🔗 Share this article

Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has died at the age of 84.

The artist, who played on 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 Music City, Nashville.

Often cited among the greatest backing bands in the history of soul music, the four-piece band Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished musician, songwriter, and producer whose profound talent inspired countless people around the world," his family said in a statement.

"While we grieve the loss of a loved one and companion, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they noted.

A reason for his passing was not immediately known.

An associate, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.

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

A Prolific Career

Voted the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper first found employment at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were founded, featuring 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 rhythm guitarist," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They won't even play the same riff twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and besides 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 "a part of virtually every record issued by Stax from 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would often spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had a roster of artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."