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The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.

The artist, who performed on and co-wrote the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed recently in Nashville.

Considered among the best studio bands in the history of soul music, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired guitarist, composer, and producer whose profound talent inspired generations around the world," his family expressed in a statement.

"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a family man 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 developing new songs.

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

An Illustrious Journey

Named the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were founded, consisting of keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded 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 said in a past interview. "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."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and besides 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 issued by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".

"We would truly spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had a roster of artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."