Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, dies aged 84

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

The guitar virtuoso, who performed on and collaborated on writing the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died recently in Music City, Nashville.

Widely regarded among the finest studio bands in soul and R&B, the four-piece band the MGs was the resident studio band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family said in a message.

"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a loved one and companion, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued.

A cause of death was not released at this time.

A friend, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Voted the second-best guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax 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 succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always thought of myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They are reluctant to repeat the same riff twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to historical accounts, he was "integral to the majority of 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 once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."