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Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has left us 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 recently in the city of Nashville.

Widely regarded among the greatest supporting groups in soul music, the quartet the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent impacted generations around the world," his family stated in a message.

"While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they noted.

A cause of death was not released at this time.

An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new songs.

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

An Illustrious Journey

Ranked the second-best guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper first found employment at Stax Records 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 honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always seen myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They are reluctant to repeat the same phrase twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and alongside 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 "integral to virtually every record issued by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".

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