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

The musician, who played on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away this past Wednesday in the city of Nashville.

Widely regarded among the greatest studio bands in the history of soul music, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is most famous for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family expressed in a statement.

"While we mourn the loss of a loved one and companion, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued.

A cause of death was not disclosed.

A friend, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on fresh material.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Named the number two guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper first found employment at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were formed, consisting of organist 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 guitarist," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They refuse to play the same riff twice."

In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and besides 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 virtually every record issued by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".

"We would literally spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had nearly 20 artists we worked with, so we had a very hectic schedule."