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Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.

The artist, who performed on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away this past Wednesday in the city of Nashville.

Often cited among the best supporting groups in the history of soul music, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved guitarist, composer, and producer whose immense talent inspired generations around the world," his family stated in a statement.

"While we grieve the loss of a loved one and companion, we are consoled knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they added.

A reason for his passing was not disclosed.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on fresh material.

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

An Illustrious Journey

Ranked the number two guitarist of all time by a music periodical 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 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 said in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to available information, he was "a part of nearly all record released by Stax from the fall of 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would truly spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists we worked with, so we had a pretty busy schedule."