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Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has died at the age of 84.

The artist, who performed on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed this past Wednesday in Nashville.

Widely regarded among the greatest studio bands in the history of soul music, the group Booker T & the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is primarily known for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

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

"Steve was a cherished musician, songwriter, and producer whose immense talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family expressed in a statement.

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

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

A friend, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music.

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

An Illustrious Journey

Voted the number two guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper first found employment at Stax 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 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 player," Cropper said 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 are reluctant to repeat the same phrase 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 historical accounts, he was "integral to nearly all record released by Stax from the fall of 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would literally spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had a roster of artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."