Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, member of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84

The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.

The musician, who performed on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died on Wednesday in the city of Nashville.

Often cited among the greatest backing bands in soul music, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the core musical unit of the historic Memphis label Stax and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a release.

"While we mourn the loss of a loved one and companion, we take solace knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they noted.

A cause of death was not disclosed.

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

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

A Prolific Career

Voted the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper began working at the Stax label 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 entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always considered myself to be a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They are reluctant to repeat the same riff twice."

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

According to available information, he was "integral to nearly all record released by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".

"We would often spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."