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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 Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died recently in the city of Nashville.

Widely regarded among the greatest studio bands in the history of soul music, the group Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the house band of the historic Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved guitarist, composer, and producer whose immense talent touched countless people around the world," his family expressed in a release.

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

A reason for his passing was not immediately known.

A friend, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Ranked the number two guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20.

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

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

"I've always seen myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They refuse to play the same riff twice."

In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and alongside 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 1970".

"We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists we worked with, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."