The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, dies aged 84

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

The artist, who performed on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away on Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.

Considered among the greatest studio bands in the history of soul music, the quartet the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and played on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired guitarist, composer, and producer whose immense talent impacted generations around the world," his family said in a statement.

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

A specific cause was not disclosed.

An associate, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music.

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

An Illustrious Journey

Voted the number two guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs came together, consisting of organist 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 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 won't even play the same phrase twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to available information, he was "a part of virtually every record issued by Stax from the fall of 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would often spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists we worked with, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."