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The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the iconic band 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 best studio bands in soul and R&B, the quartet the MGs was the resident studio band of the historic Memphis label Stax and is most famous for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent inspired generations around the world," his family stated in a statement.

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

A reason for his passing was not released at this time.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music.

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

An Illustrious Journey

Named the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were formed, consisting of keyboardist 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 seen myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They won't even play the same lick twice."

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

According to historical accounts, he was "integral to nearly all record put out by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would truly spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."