🔗 Share this article Steve Cropper, guitarist of Booker T and the MGs, dies aged 84 Steve Cropper served as a key member of the in-house studio band of the pioneering Memphis label Stax Records. Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84. The musician, who contributed to and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away this past Wednesday in Nashville. Widely regarded among the finest studio bands in soul and R&B, the quartet the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is most famous for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions. Cropper went on to join the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man. "Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose profound talent impacted generations around the world," his family stated in a release. "While we feel sorrow for the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they added. A cause of death was not disclosed. An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music. "He's such a wonderful human," Gore said. "We were lucky to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, pictured on the right, with fellow musicians Eddie Floyd and Sheryl Crow. An Illustrious Journey Voted the second-best guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20. A year later, the MGs were formed, featuring keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964. The band was honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. "I've always considered myself to be a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They refuse to play the same riff twice." Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and in addition to Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood. According to historical accounts, he was "integral to virtually every record released by Stax from 1961 through the end of 1970". "We would often spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had a roster of artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."