Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, member of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died 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 artist, who contributed to and collaborated on writing the classic song 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 best studio bands in soul and R&B, the quartet Booker T & the MGs was the core musical unit of the historic Memphis label Stax and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.

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

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

"While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they noted.

A specific cause was not immediately known.

A friend, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new songs.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Ranked the number two guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax Records 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 succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

The band was entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always thought of myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They won't even play the same riff twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and besides 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 "a part of virtually every record released by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".

"We would truly spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had a roster of artists we worked with, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."