🔗 Share this article

The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.

The artist, who played on and helped pen the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, died on Wednesday in the city of Nashville.

Often cited among the greatest backing bands in soul music, the four-piece band the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family said in a release.

"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a family man and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they added.

A cause of death was not disclosed.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new songs.

"He's such a good human," Gore remarked. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."

A Storied Musical Path

Voted the number two guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were founded, 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 entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always seen myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, 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 productive songwriter, and alongside 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 truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists we worked with, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."