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

The guitar virtuoso, who contributed to and collaborated on writing 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.

Widely regarded among the greatest supporting groups in soul and R&B, the quartet the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax and is best remembered for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and featured on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired musician, songwriter, and producer whose profound talent inspired generations 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 be remembered through his music," they continued.

A cause of death was not immediately known.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music.

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

A Prolific Career

Named the number two guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were formed, comprising organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

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

"I've always thought of myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I enjoy 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 lick twice."

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

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

"We would often spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had a roster of artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."