🔗 Share this article

Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.

The guitar virtuoso, who played on and co-wrote the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away this past Wednesday in Nashville.

Often cited among the best supporting groups in soul and R&B, the four-piece band Booker T & the MGs was the core musical unit of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is primarily known for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the comedy music group 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 touched generations around the world," his family expressed in a release.

"While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they continued.

A cause of death was not immediately known.

A friend, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.

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

An Illustrious Journey

Ranked the second-best guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were formed, consisting of organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced 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 seen myself as a rhythm player," Cropper explained 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 refuse to play the same phrase twice."

Not only was he 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 his official biography, he was "involved in nearly all record issued by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would often spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a very hectic schedule."