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

The musician, who played 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.

Widely regarded among the greatest backing bands in the history of soul music, the group the MGs was the core musical unit of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is most famous for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent inspired generations around the world," his family expressed in a statement.

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

A reason for his passing was not immediately known.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new songs.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Ranked the runner-up for 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 came together, featuring 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 thought of myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They refuse to play the same lick twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a productive 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 "involved in the majority of record released by Stax from 1961 through 1970".

"We would truly spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a very hectic schedule."