🔗 Share this article The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, member of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84 Steve Cropper served as a key member of the house band of the pioneering Memphis label Stax Records. Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has left us at the age of 84. The guitar virtuoso, who contributed to and co-wrote the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away on Wednesday in Nashville. Widely regarded among the finest supporting groups in soul music, the quartet the MGs was the resident studio band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions. Cropper also joined the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their popular rendition of Soul Man. "Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent inspired generations around the world," his family said in a release. "While we grieve the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they noted. A specific cause was not released at this time. A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music. "He's such a good human," Gore said. "We were lucky to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, right, with artists Eddie Floyd and Sheryl Crow. An Illustrious Journey Named the number two guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20. A year later, the MGs came together, consisting of 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 player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I enjoy 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." As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and in addition to Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood. According to his official biography, he was "integral to nearly all record issued by Stax from 1961 through year end 1970". "We would often spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had nearly 20 artists on the roster, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."