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

The guitar virtuoso, who played on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died on Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.

Considered among the finest backing bands in soul and R&B, the quartet Booker T & the MGs was the resident studio band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is primarily known for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and played on their hit cover of Soul Man.

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

"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a loved one and companion, we find comfort knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued.

A cause of death was not released at this time.

An associate, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.

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

A Prolific Career

Voted the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper first found employment at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs came together, 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 considered myself to be a rhythm player," Cropper said in a past interview. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They won't even play the same phrase twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a productive 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 available information, he was "integral to virtually every record issued by Stax from late 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had nearly 20 artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."