🔗 Share this article

The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.

The musician, who played on and co-wrote the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died this past Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.

Widely regarded among the best supporting groups in the history of soul music, the quartet the MGs was the resident studio band of the historic Memphis label Stax and is best remembered for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched countless people around the world," his family said in a message.

"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a loved one and companion, we take solace knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they added.

A reason for his passing was not disclosed.

An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new songs.

"He's such a wonderful human," Gore said. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."

A Storied Musical Path

Voted the second-best guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper started his career 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 honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always considered myself to be a rhythm player," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They are reluctant to repeat the same phrase twice."

In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to available information, he was "integral to the majority of record released by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 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."