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Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.

The musician, who performed on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away this past Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.

Often cited among the finest studio bands in the history of soul music, the four-piece band Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is best remembered for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent inspired countless people around the world," his family stated in a release.

"While we mourn the loss of a loved one and companion, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they noted.

A cause of death was not immediately known.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music.

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

A Prolific Career

Ranked the runner-up for 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 were founded, featuring organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced 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 rhythm guitarist," Cropper said in a past interview. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to 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 historical accounts, he was "involved in the majority of record issued by Stax from the fall of 1961 through 1970".

"We would truly spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a very hectic schedule."