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

The guitar virtuoso, who played on and collaborated on writing the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, died recently in the city of Nashville.

Often cited among the greatest supporting groups in soul and R&B, the quartet Booker T & the MGs was the resident studio band of the historic Memphis label Stax and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a release.

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

A cause of death was not immediately known.

An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on fresh material.

"He's such a kind human," Gore commented. "We were lucky 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 formed, comprising 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 seen myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," 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 are reluctant to repeat the same lick twice."

In addition to being 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 his official biography, he was "a part of virtually every record issued by Stax from 1961 through 1970".

"We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had nearly 20 artists we worked with, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."