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Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has passed away 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 recently in Music City, Nashville.

Considered among the finest studio bands in soul music, the four-piece band the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and played on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent inspired countless people around the world," his family said in a statement.

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

A specific cause was not released at this time.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing fresh material.

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

An Illustrious Journey

Ranked the runner-up for 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 were formed, featuring organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always considered myself to be a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same riff twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and alongside 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 "a part of the majority of record put out by Stax from the fall of 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would often spend marathon sessions 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."