Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died 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 musician, who contributed to and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed on Wednesday in the city of Nashville.

Considered among the greatest studio bands in soul music, the group Booker T & the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax and is most famous for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved guitarist, composer, and producer whose immense talent touched generations around the world," his family expressed in a message.

"While we grieve the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued.

A cause of death was not released at this time.

An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Voted the number two guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were formed, comprising 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 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 avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on 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 long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a very hectic schedule."