🔗 Share this article Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, guitarist of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died aged 84 Steve Cropper was part of the resident musical group of the pioneering Memphis label Stax Records. Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84. The artist, who contributed to and collaborated on writing the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died on Wednesday in the city of Nashville. Widely regarded among the finest studio bands in soul music, the quartet the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is primarily known for their classic 1962 track Green Onions. Cropper went on to join the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and played on their successful version of Soul Man. "Steve was a beloved guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent inspired generations around the world," his family expressed in a statement. "While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they added. A reason for his passing was not immediately known. An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned 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 said. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, right, with fellow musicians Sheryl Crow and Eddie Floyd. An Illustrious Journey Ranked the number two guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper first found employment at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20. A year later, the MGs came together, comprising organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. "I've always thought of myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same lick twice." As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and besides 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 "involved in virtually every record issued by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 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."