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

The guitar virtuoso, who performed on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, died recently in Nashville.

Widely regarded among the finest studio bands in the history of soul music, the group the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose immense talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family said in a release.

"While we grieve 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.

An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing fresh material.

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

A Prolific Career

Voted the second-best guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper first found employment at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were formed, featuring organist 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 previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They are reluctant to repeat 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 historical accounts, he was "integral to the majority of record released by Stax from the fall of 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would often spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists we worked with, so we had a pretty busy schedule."