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

The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84.

The musician, who contributed to and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed on Wednesday in Nashville.

Widely regarded among the greatest supporting groups in soul and R&B, the quartet Booker T & 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 later became a member of the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and played on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished guitarist, composer, and producer whose immense talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a release.

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

A specific cause was not immediately known.

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

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

A year later, the MGs were formed, comprising keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced 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 considered myself to be a rhythm guitarist," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They are reluctant to repeat the same lick twice."

In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative 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 "involved in nearly all record issued by Stax from the fall of 1961 through 1970".

"We would literally spend marathon sessions 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."