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Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.

The guitar virtuoso, who performed on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died recently in Music City, Nashville.

Often cited among the greatest studio bands in soul and R&B, the quartet Booker T & the MGs was the core musical unit of the historic Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent touched generations around the world," his family expressed in a release.

"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a loved one and companion, we take solace knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they continued.

A specific cause was not immediately known.

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

"He's such a wonderful human," Gore said. "We were blessed 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 first found employment at Stax Records 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 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 explained in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They are reluctant to repeat the same riff twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and in addition to Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to historical accounts, he was "involved in virtually every 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 we worked with, so we had a very hectic schedule."