đź”— Share this article The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, guitarist of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, dies at the age of 84 Steve Cropper was part of the in-house studio band of the seminal Memphis label Stax Records. Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84. The artist, who played on and collaborated on writing the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died on Wednesday in the city of Nashville. Often cited among the best studio bands in the history of soul music, the group the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions. Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man. "Steve was a deeply admired guitarist, composer, and producer whose profound talent touched countless people around the world," his family stated in a message. "While we grieve the loss of a family man and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they noted. A specific cause was not disclosed. An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material. "He's such a wonderful human," Gore remarked. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, pictured on the right, with fellow musicians Sheryl Crow and Eddie Floyd. An Illustrious Journey Named the second-best 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, 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 inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. "I've always seen myself as a rhythm player," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They are reluctant to repeat the same phrase twice." Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood. According to available information, he was "involved in the majority of record put out by Stax from the fall of 1961 through the end of 1970". "We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."