🔗 Share this article The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, member of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84 Steve Cropper formed the backbone of the house band of the pioneering Memphis label Stax Records. The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84. The guitar virtuoso, who performed on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died on Wednesday in Nashville. Often cited among the finest supporting groups in soul and R&B, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their classic 1962 track Green Onions. Cropper also joined the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their hit cover of Soul Man. "Steve was a deeply admired musician, songwriter, and producer whose profound talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a release. "While we grieve the loss of a loved one and companion, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they continued. A cause of death 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 new songs. "He's such a good human," Gore commented. "We were lucky to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, pictured on the right, with peers Sheryl Crow and Eddie Floyd. A Prolific Career Named the number two guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper first found employment at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20. A year later, the MGs were formed, comprising organist 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 thought of myself as a rhythm player," 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 are reluctant to repeat 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 co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood. According to his official biography, he was "a part of the majority of record released by Stax from the fall of 1961 through 1970". "We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."