🔗 Share this article The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, guitarist of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has passed away aged 84 Steve Cropper served as a key member of the resident musical group of the seminal Memphis label Stax Records. Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has passed away 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, passed away on Wednesday in Nashville. Widely regarded among the best supporting groups in the history of soul music, the four-piece band the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their classic 1962 track Green Onions. Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man. "Steve was a cherished guitarist, composer, and producer whose profound talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a release. "While we mourn the loss of a family man and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they continued. A reason for his passing was not disclosed. A friend, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music. "He's such a wonderful human," Gore remarked. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, pictured on the right, with artists Eddie Floyd and Sheryl Crow. A Prolific Career Ranked the second-best guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20. A year later, the MGs were founded, comprising keyboardist 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 rhythm guitarist," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same lick twice." As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood. According to historical accounts, 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 noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."