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Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84.

The musician, who performed on and co-wrote the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed recently in the city of Nashville.

Widely regarded among the greatest supporting groups in soul music, the group Booker T & the MGs was the house band of the historic Memphis label Stax and is best remembered for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the blues revival band 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 profound talent inspired generations around the world," his family stated in a message.

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

A reason for his passing was not disclosed.

An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new songs.

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

An Illustrious Journey

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

A year later, the MGs came together, featuring keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

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

"I've always seen myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They won't even play the same phrase twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative 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 his official biography, he was "a part of the majority of record issued by Stax from the fall of 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would truly spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a very hectic schedule."