Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, guitarist of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has passed away aged 84

Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.

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

Considered among the best studio bands in soul music, the four-piece band the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.

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

"Steve was a deeply admired guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched countless people around the world," his family stated in a message.

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

A cause of death was not released at this time.

An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Named the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper first found employment at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were founded, 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 entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always thought of myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They won't even play the same lick twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific 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 "involved in the majority of record put out by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would often spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists we worked with, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."