Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, dies at the age of 84

The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died 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 Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died recently in Music City, Nashville.

Widely regarded among the greatest studio bands in soul music, the quartet the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered 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 performed on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched generations around the world," his family stated in a message.

"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a family man and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they added.

A cause of death was not disclosed.

An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music.

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

A Storied Musical Path

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

A year later, the MGs were formed, comprising 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 player," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They refuse to play the same riff twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to his official biography, he was "integral to nearly all record put out by Stax from 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would truly spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."