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

The guitar virtuoso, who performed on and helped pen the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, died recently in Music City, Nashville.

Considered among the best backing bands in soul music, the four-piece band Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the core musical unit of the historic Memphis label Stax/Volt and is primarily known for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and played on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent inspired generations around the world," his family said in a statement.

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

A specific cause was not disclosed.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.

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

A Prolific Career

Named the second-best guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were founded, featuring 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 considered myself to be a rhythm guitarist," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and besides 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 virtually every record issued by Stax from 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had nearly 20 artists we worked with, so we had a pretty busy schedule."