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The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.

The guitar virtuoso, who contributed to and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away recently in Music City, Nashville.

Often cited among the finest supporting groups in soul and R&B, the quartet the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and featured on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched millions of lives around the world," his family expressed in a release.

"While we grieve the loss of a loved one and companion, we take solace knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they continued.

A specific cause was not immediately known.

An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.

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

A Prolific Career

Named the number two guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper started his career at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were founded, comprising 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 player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something repeatedly, 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 in addition to Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to available information, he was "integral to the majority of record issued by Stax from 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would often spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had a roster of artists we worked with, so we had a very hectic schedule."