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Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.

The musician, who contributed to and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away recently in Music City, Nashville.

Often cited among the best backing bands 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 and is primarily known for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

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

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

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

A cause of death was not disclosed.

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

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

A Storied Musical Path

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 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 inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always thought of myself as a rhythm player," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They refuse to play the same riff twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a productive 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 put out by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".

"We would truly spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had a roster of artists signed to the label, so we had a very hectic schedule."