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

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

Considered among the finest studio bands in soul and R&B, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is primarily known for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

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

"Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose profound talent impacted countless people around the world," his family said in a statement.

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

A reason for his passing was not immediately known.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Voted the number two guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax Records 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 succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

The band was honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always thought of myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper remarked in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative 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 "integral to the majority of record released by Stax from the fall of 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 signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."