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Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.

The musician, who played on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed recently in Music City, Nashville.

Widely regarded among the greatest supporting groups in soul and R&B, the four-piece band the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and played on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent inspired generations around the world," his family expressed in a release.

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

A cause of death was not released at this time.

A friend, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music.

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

A Prolific Career

Ranked the runner-up for 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 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 honored by inclusion in 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 over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They are reluctant to repeat the same phrase twice."

As well as 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 historical accounts, he was "integral to virtually every record put out by Stax from 1961 through 1970".

"We would truly spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."