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

Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has died at the age of 84.

The guitar virtuoso, who performed on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, died this past Wednesday in the city of Nashville.

Considered among the finest backing bands in the history of soul music, the group Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and played on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched countless people around the world," his family said in a statement.

"While we mourn the loss of a loved one and companion, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they noted.

A specific cause was not disclosed.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new songs.

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

A Prolific Career

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

A year later, the MGs were formed, consisting of keyboardist 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 considered myself to be a rhythm player," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific 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 "involved in nearly all record put out by Stax from 1961 through 1970".

"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had nearly 20 artists we worked with, so we had a pretty busy schedule."