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

The artist, who contributed to 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 Nashville.

Considered among the greatest supporting groups in soul music, the four-piece band Booker T & the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is best remembered for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent inspired countless people around the world," his family said in a message.

"While we grieve the loss of a family man and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they noted.

A cause of death was not disclosed.

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

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

A Storied Musical Path

Voted the number two guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper first found employment at the Stax label 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 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 remarked in a previous conversation. "I enjoy 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 lick twice."

In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific 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 "a part of virtually every record put out by Stax from the fall of 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had nearly 20 artists on the roster, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."