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Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.

The guitar virtuoso, who played on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died on Wednesday in Nashville.

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

Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and played on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished musician, songwriter, and producer whose immense talent inspired generations around the world," his family expressed in a release.

"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a loved one and companion, we take solace knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they noted.

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

A friend, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music.

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

An Illustrious Journey

Named the number two guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper first found employment 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 thought of myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They won't even play the same phrase twice."

Not only was he 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 available information, he was "integral to the majority of record issued by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would literally spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had a roster of artists we worked with, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."