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

The guitar virtuoso, 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, died recently in Music City, Nashville.

Considered among the finest supporting groups in soul and R&B, the four-piece band Booker T & the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and played on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent impacted generations around the world," his family said in a message.

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

A cause of death was not disclosed.

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

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

A Storied Musical Path

Voted the second-best guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper first found employment at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs came together, featuring keyboardist 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 thought of myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper said in a past interview. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They are reluctant to repeat the same riff twice."

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

According to available information, he was "integral to nearly all record put out by Stax from the fall of 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would often spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had a roster of artists signed to the label, so we had a very hectic schedule."