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The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & 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 the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away recently in Nashville.

Considered among the greatest supporting groups in soul and R&B, the group Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished musician, songwriter, and producer whose profound talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family expressed in a release.

"While we grieve the loss of a family man and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued.

A cause of death was not disclosed.

An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled 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 said. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."

A Storied Musical Path

Voted the second-best guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper started his career at the Stax label 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 succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always seen myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They won't even play the same riff twice."

In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and alongside 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 "a part of virtually every record put out by Stax from 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would truly spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."