Steve Cropper, member of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died aged 84

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

The musician, who contributed to and collaborated on writing the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away on Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.

Often cited among the finest studio bands in the history of soul music, the group the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and played on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose immense talent impacted countless people around the world," his family said in a release.

"While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they added.

A reason for his passing was not immediately known.

An associate, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.

"He's such a wonderful human," Gore said. "We were blessed 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 first found employment at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were formed, featuring keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded 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 thought of myself as a rhythm player," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They won't even play the same phrase twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and in addition to 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 the majority of record put out by Stax from the fall of 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 very hectic schedule."