🔗 Share this article The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of Booker T and the MGs, has died aged 84 Steve Cropper formed the backbone of the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax Records. The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has left us at the age of 84. The artist, who performed 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 Nashville. Often cited among the best studio bands in soul and R&B, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is best remembered for their classic 1962 track Green Onions. Cropper later became a member of the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and played on their hit cover of Soul Man. "Steve was a cherished guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched generations around the world," his family said in a statement. "While we grieve the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they continued. A specific cause was not immediately known. An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new songs. "He's such a wonderful human," Gore remarked. "We were lucky to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, pictured on the right, with peers Eddie Floyd and Sheryl Crow. A Storied Musical Path Named the number two guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20. A year later, the MGs were founded, consisting of keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. "I've always considered myself to be a rhythm guitarist," Cropper explained 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." As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood. According to his official biography, he was "integral to virtually every record issued by Stax from late 1961 through 1970". "We would literally spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists we worked with, so we had a very hectic schedule."