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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 guitar virtuoso, who contributed to and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed recently in Music City, Nashville.

Considered among the greatest studio bands in soul and R&B, the group Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the core musical unit of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.

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

"Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched countless people around the world," his family expressed 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 continued.

A specific cause was not disclosed.

An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.

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

A Prolific Career

Voted the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax Records 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 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 explained in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They won't even play the same lick twice."

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

According to historical accounts, he was "integral to virtually every record issued by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".

"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had nearly 20 artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."