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Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.

The guitar virtuoso, who played on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, died this past Wednesday in the city of Nashville.

Considered among the finest supporting groups in soul and R&B, the quartet the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched generations around the world," his family said in a message.

"While we mourn the loss of a family man and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they noted.

A reason for his passing was not released at this time.

An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music.

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

A Prolific Career

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

A year later, the MGs were founded, consisting of organist 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 rhythm player," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They won't even play the same riff twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

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

"We would truly spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."