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

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

The artist, 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, succumbed recently in Nashville.

Often cited among the finest supporting groups in the history of soul music, the group the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a statement.

"While we mourn the loss of a loved one and companion, we take solace knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they added.

A specific cause was not immediately known.

A friend, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.

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

A Prolific Career

Named the second-best guitarist of all time by a British music magazine 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 inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always considered myself to be a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They won't even play the same riff twice."

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

According to his official biography, he was "a part of the majority of record released by Stax from 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would often spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."