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

The musician, who played on and collaborated on writing the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed this past Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.

Widely regarded among the greatest backing bands in the history of soul music, the quartet the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent inspired generations around the world," his family stated in a statement.

"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they noted.

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

A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new songs.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Named the second-best guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper first found employment at the Stax label 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 replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

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

"I've always seen myself as a rhythm player," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They won't even play the same lick twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to historical accounts, he was "a part of the majority of record put out by Stax from the fall of 1961 through 1970".

"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."