🔗 Share this article The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, member of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84 Steve Cropper served as a key member of the resident musical group of the pioneering Memphis label Stax Records. Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84. The musician, who played on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away on Wednesday in the city of Nashville. Often cited among the finest studio bands in soul and R&B, the group the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is most famous for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions. Cropper later became a member of the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and played on their successful version of Soul Man. "Steve was a beloved artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family expressed in a message. "While we mourn the loss of a loved one and companion, we find comfort knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they noted. A reason for his passing was not released at this time. An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing fresh material. "He's such a good human," Gore commented. "We were blessed to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, right, with peers Eddie Floyd and Sheryl Crow. A Prolific Career Ranked the second-best guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20. A year later, the MGs were formed, comprising organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964. The band was entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. "I've always considered myself to be a rhythm guitarist," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They won't even play the same riff twice." Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood. According to historical accounts, he was "a part of virtually every record put out by Stax from the fall of 1961 through year end 1970". "We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had a roster of artists we worked with, so we had a pretty busy schedule."