Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of Booker T and the MGs, dies aged 84

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

The guitar virtuoso, who performed on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed on Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.

Often cited among the best studio bands in soul music, the four-piece band Booker T & the MGs was the core musical unit of the historic Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent inspired generations around the world," his family stated in a release.

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

A reason for his passing was not released at this time.

An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on fresh material.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Voted the number two guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper first found employment at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs came together, featuring keyboardist 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 considered myself to be a rhythm guitarist," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They are reluctant to repeat the same phrase twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to his official biography, he was "integral to nearly all record released by Stax from the fall of 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would often spend long days in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a very hectic schedule."