🔗 Share this article Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of Booker T and the MGs, dies aged 84 Steve Cropper formed the backbone of the resident musical group of the pioneering Memphis label Stax Records. Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84. The artist, who played on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed this past Wednesday in Music City, Nashville. Widely regarded among the best supporting groups in soul music, the four-piece band the MGs was the house band of the historic Memphis label Stax and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions. Cropper later became a member of the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man. "Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent inspired countless people around the world," his family stated in a message. "While we grieve the loss of a family man and friend, 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, mentioned he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music. "He's such a kind human," Gore said. "We were lucky to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, pictured on the right, with fellow musicians Sheryl Crow and Eddie Floyd. A Storied Musical Path Voted 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 came together, featuring 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 seen myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They are reluctant to repeat the same lick twice." Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood. According to available information, he was "a part of the majority of record issued by Stax from the fall of 1961 through the end of 1970". "We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had nearly 20 artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."