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

The artist, who played on and co-wrote the classic song 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 greatest supporting groups in the history of soul music, the four-piece band Booker T & the MGs was the house band of the historic Memphis label Stax Records and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished guitarist, composer, and producer whose profound talent touched countless people around the world," his family stated in a statement.

"While we grieve the loss of a family man and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they added.

A cause of death was not immediately known.

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 said. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."

A Storied Musical Path

Voted the second-best guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at the Stax label 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 replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

The band was honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always seen myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper remarked 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."

In addition to being 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 his official biography, he was "involved in virtually every record released by Stax from late 1961 through year end 1970".

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