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Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has died at the age of 84.

The musician, who played on and co-wrote the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed recently in Nashville.

Widely regarded among the greatest supporting groups in soul and R&B, the group Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the groundbreaking 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 performed on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved guitarist, composer, and producer whose profound talent touched generations around the world," his family expressed in a message.

"While we grieve the loss of a family man and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they continued.

A cause of death was not disclosed.

A friend, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new songs.

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

A Prolific Career

Ranked the second-best guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax 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 honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always thought of myself as a rhythm player," Cropper remarked in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same riff twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and in addition to 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 "involved in virtually every record released by Stax from the fall of 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would literally spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."