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Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.

The musician, who performed on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed recently in Nashville.

Widely regarded among the greatest supporting groups in the history of soul music, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent touched millions of lives around the world," his family said in a message.

"While we grieve the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they added.

A reason for his passing was not disclosed.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music.

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

A Prolific Career

Ranked the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were founded, 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 rhythm guitarist," Cropper remarked in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They are reluctant to repeat the same riff twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative 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 "involved in virtually every record issued by Stax from the fall of 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would often spend long days in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."