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Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.

The musician, who performed on and collaborated on writing Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed recently in the city of Nashville.

Considered among the finest supporting groups in soul music, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax and is best remembered for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family said 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 noted.

A specific cause was not released at this time.

A friend, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new songs.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Voted the second-best guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax Records 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 replaced 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 seen myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper explained 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 riff twice."

In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and in addition to Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to his official biography, he was "a part of virtually every record issued by Stax from 1961 through 1970".

"We would often 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 extremely demanding schedule."