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Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.

The musician, who performed on and collaborated on writing the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died recently in the city of Nashville.

Often cited among the finest studio bands in soul music, the four-piece band Booker T & the MGs was the core musical unit of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent impacted countless people around the world," his family stated in a statement.

"While we mourn the loss of a loved one and companion, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they noted.

A cause of death was not disclosed.

An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new songs.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Ranked the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working 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 succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

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

"I've always considered myself to be a rhythm guitarist," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same lick twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and besides 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 nearly all record issued by Stax from late 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would literally spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."