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

The guitar virtuoso, who contributed to 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 the city of Nashville.

Widely regarded among the greatest backing bands in soul music, the group Booker T & the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is primarily known for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent impacted countless people around the world," his family expressed in a message.

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

A specific cause was not disclosed.

An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music.

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

A Prolific Career

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, consisting of organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

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

"I've always seen myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They won't even play the same riff twice."

In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and besides 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 the majority of record issued by Stax from late 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had nearly 20 artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."