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Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.

The guitar virtuoso, who played on and helped pen 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.

Considered among the finest supporting groups in soul music, the group Booker T & the MGs was the core musical unit of the historic Memphis label Stax and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent impacted countless people around the world," his family expressed in a release.

"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a family man and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they continued.

A cause of death was not released at this time.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Voted the number two 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, featuring organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded 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 rhythm guitarist," Cropper said in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They are reluctant to repeat the same lick twice."

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

According to his official biography, he was "involved in nearly all record issued by Stax from late 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would literally spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had nearly 20 artists we worked with, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."