🔗 Share this article The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died aged 84 Steve Cropper was part of the house band of the seminal Memphis label Stax Records. The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84. The musician, who performed on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed recently in the city of Nashville. Widely regarded among the greatest studio bands in soul music, the quartet the MGs was the core musical unit of the influential Memphis label Stax and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions. Cropper later became a member of the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their successful version of Soul Man. "Steve was a beloved artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent impacted generations around the world," his family expressed in a release. "While we mourn the loss of a family man and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued. A specific cause was not released at this time. An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music. "He's such a wonderful human," Gore commented. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, pictured on the right, with artists Eddie Floyd and Sheryl Crow. A Storied Musical Path Named the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20. A year later, the MGs were formed, featuring keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded 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 player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They won't even play the same riff twice." As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and in addition to 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 "integral to nearly all record put out by Stax from 1961 through year end 1970". "We would truly spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had nearly 20 artists signed to the label, so we had a very hectic schedule."