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The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84.

The musician, who contributed to and co-wrote the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away on Wednesday in the city of Nashville.

Often cited among the greatest backing bands in soul and R&B, the quartet the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family said in a message.

"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a family man and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they continued.

A cause of death was not immediately known.

An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music.

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

A Prolific Career

Ranked the second-best 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 formed, featuring organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always considered myself to be a rhythm player," Cropper said in a past interview. "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."

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

According to historical accounts, he was "a part of nearly all record released by Stax from 1961 through year end 1970".

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