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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 on Wednesday in the city of Nashville.

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

Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent impacted generations around the world," his family said in a statement.

"While we mourn the loss of a family man and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they noted.

A reason for his passing was not immediately known.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new songs.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Ranked the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were founded, consisting of keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced 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 player," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same riff twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

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

"We would literally spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had nearly 20 artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."