🔗 Share this article

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

The guitar virtuoso, who contributed to and collaborated on writing the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed on Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.

Widely regarded among the best backing bands in the history of soul music, the quartet Booker T & the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and played on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent inspired generations around the world," his family expressed in a message.

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

A specific cause was not released at this time.

An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Ranked the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were founded, featuring organist 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 considered myself to be a rhythm guitarist," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They won't even play the same riff twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and in addition to Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to his official biography, he was "integral to nearly all record issued by Stax from the fall of 1961 through 1970".

"We would truly spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had nearly 20 artists we worked with, so we had a pretty busy schedule."