đź”— Share this article Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, dies at the age of 84 Steve Cropper served as a key member of the resident musical group of the pioneering Memphis label Stax Records. Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84. The musician, who performed on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed on Wednesday in Nashville. Often cited among the greatest backing bands in the history of soul music, the group Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered 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 featured on their successful version of Soul Man. "Steve was a beloved artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent inspired generations around the world," his family expressed in a message. "While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued. A specific cause was not immediately known. A friend, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material. "He's such a wonderful human," Gore commented. "We were blessed to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, pictured on the right, with artists Eddie Floyd and Sheryl Crow. A Storied Musical Path Ranked the second-best 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, featuring 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 rhythm guitarist," Cropper said 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 alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood. According to historical accounts, he was "integral to virtually every record issued by Stax from 1961 through year end 1970". "We would literally spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had nearly 20 artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."