Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has passed away aged 84

Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.

The guitar virtuoso, who performed on and collaborated on writing the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, died this past Wednesday in the city of Nashville.

Widely regarded among the best backing bands in soul and R&B, the four-piece band Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the historic Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and played on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family expressed in a message.

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

A cause of death was not immediately known.

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

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

An Illustrious Journey

Ranked the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs came together, comprising 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 seen myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I take pride in 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 lick twice."

In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to historical accounts, he was "a part of the majority of record issued by Stax from 1961 through 1970".

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