🔗 Share this article Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, guitarist of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, dies aged 84 Steve Cropper was part of the in-house studio band of the seminal 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 guitar virtuoso, who performed on and helped pen the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed on Wednesday in the city of Nashville. Considered among the best backing bands in soul music, the quartet the MGs was the house band of the historic Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions. Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their popular rendition of Soul Man. "Steve was a cherished musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent inspired generations around the world," his family said in a statement. "While we grieve the loss of a loved one and companion, we take solace knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they added. A reason for his passing was not immediately known. A friend, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material. "He's such a good human," Gore commented. "We were lucky to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, right, with artists Eddie Floyd and Sheryl Crow. A Prolific Career Ranked the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20. A year later, the MGs came together, featuring organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964. The band was honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. "I've always considered myself to be a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They refuse to play the same lick twice." As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood. According to available information, he was "a part of the majority of record put out by Stax from 1961 through the end of 1970". "We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."