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

The artist, who performed on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed this past Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.

Often cited among the greatest studio bands in the history of soul music, the group Booker T & the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.

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

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

A reason for his passing was not disclosed.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new songs.

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

A Prolific Career

Named the second-best 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, comprising keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

The band was honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always considered myself to be a rhythm player," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They refuse to play the same riff twice."

In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and in addition to 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 "involved in nearly all record issued by Stax from late 1961 through year end 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 signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."