đź”— Share this article Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, has died aged 84 Steve Cropper formed the backbone of the in-house studio band of the pioneering Memphis label Stax Records. Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84. The artist, who contributed to and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died recently in the city of Nashville. Widely regarded among the best studio bands in soul music, the group the MGs was the core musical unit of the historic Memphis label Stax Records 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 performed on their successful version of Soul Man. "Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose immense talent impacted generations around the world," his family said in a release. "While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they noted. A cause of death was not immediately known. A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on fresh material. "He's such a kind human," Gore remarked. "We were blessed to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, right, with peers Eddie Floyd and Sheryl Crow. A Prolific Career Named the second-best guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper first found employment at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20. A year later, the MGs were formed, comprising keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced 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 player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They won't even play the same phrase twice." Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and alongside 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 "integral to nearly all record put out by Stax from the fall of 1961 through year end 1970". "We would often spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."