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

The musician, who performed on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away this past Wednesday in Nashville.

Considered among the best studio bands in soul music, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax/Volt 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 1970s and played on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished musician, songwriter, and producer whose profound talent touched countless people around the world," his family stated in a statement.

"While we mourn the loss of a loved one and companion, we are consoled knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they added.

A specific cause was not immediately known.

An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new songs.

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

An Illustrious Journey

Voted the second-best guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper started his career at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.

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

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

"I've always thought of myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper said in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They won't even play the same lick twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and besides 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 "integral to nearly all record issued by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".

"We would literally spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a very hectic schedule."