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

The artist, 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, passed away on Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.

Often cited among the greatest supporting groups in soul music, the four-piece band Booker T & 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 went on to join the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent impacted generations around the world," his family expressed in a message.

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

A specific cause was not immediately known.

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

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

A Storied Musical Path

Ranked the second-best guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were formed, comprising 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 thought of myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "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 riff twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific 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 his official biography, he was "a part of nearly all record issued by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had nearly 20 artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."