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

The guitar virtuoso, who contributed to and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away on Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.

Widely regarded among the greatest backing bands in soul and R&B, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent touched millions of lives around the world," his family expressed in a message.

"While we grieve the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they added.

A specific cause was not immediately known.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.

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

A Prolific Career

Ranked the runner-up for 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 were formed, consisting of keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

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

"I've always seen myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper remarked in a past interview. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They are reluctant to repeat the same phrase 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 the majority of record issued by Stax from the fall of 1961 through 1970".

"We would literally spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had a roster of artists signed to the label, so we had a very hectic schedule."