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

The musician, who contributed to and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed recently in the city of Nashville.

Often cited among the best backing bands in soul and R&B, the quartet the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is most famous for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and played on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent impacted generations around the world," his family said in a release.

"While we grieve the loss of a family man and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they added.

A reason for his passing was not released at this time.

A friend, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing fresh material.

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

A Prolific Career

Ranked the second-best guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were founded, consisting of organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced 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 thought of myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They won't even play the same lick twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to historical accounts, he was "integral to the majority of record released by Stax from 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would literally spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."