🔗 Share this article Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, guitarist of Booker T and the MGs, has died at the age of 84 Steve Cropper was part of the resident musical group of the pioneering Memphis label Stax Records. The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84. The artist, who played on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed on Wednesday in Music City, Nashville. Widely regarded among the greatest supporting groups in soul music, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their classic 1962 track Green Onions. Cropper later became a member of the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their popular rendition of Soul Man. "Steve was a cherished guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family said in a release. "While we grieve the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they added. A reason for his passing was not disclosed. A friend, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music. "He's such a wonderful human," Gore said. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, right, with artists Eddie Floyd and Sheryl Crow. A Prolific Career Named the second-best guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20. A year later, the MGs came together, consisting of 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 considered myself to be a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper remarked in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They refuse to play the same phrase twice." In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative 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 "integral to the majority of record released by Stax from 1961 through the end of 1970". "We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists we worked with, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."