🔗 Share this article Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, dies at the age of 84 Steve Cropper was part of the resident musical group of the seminal Memphis label Stax Records. The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84. The guitar virtuoso, who played on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died on Wednesday in Nashville. Often cited among the best studio bands in soul music, the four-piece band the MGs was the core musical unit of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is primarily known for their classic 1962 track Green Onions. Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and performed on their popular rendition of Soul Man. "Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent inspired countless people around the world," his family expressed in a release. "While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they added. A reason for his passing was not immediately known. A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music. "He's such a kind human," Gore commented. "We were blessed to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, right, with artists Sheryl Crow and Eddie Floyd. An Illustrious Journey Named the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper first found employment at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20. A year later, the MGs were founded, featuring 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 player," Cropper remarked 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 phrase twice." As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative 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 "integral to the majority of record released by Stax from late 1961 through year end 1970". "We would often spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."