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

The artist, who played on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed on Wednesday in Nashville.

Often cited among the finest supporting groups in soul music, the group Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

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

"Steve was a cherished musician, songwriter, and producer whose immense talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a statement.

"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they added.

A specific cause was not immediately known.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.

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

An Illustrious Journey

Named the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs came together, featuring 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 rhythm player," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a productive 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 his official biography, he was "involved in the majority of record issued by Stax from 1961 through 1970".

"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had nearly 20 artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."