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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 contributed to and collaborated on writing the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died this past Wednesday in Nashville.

Considered among the best backing bands in soul music, the quartet the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is primarily known for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent impacted generations around the world," his family stated in a statement.

"While we grieve the loss of a loved one and companion, we take solace knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they noted.

A specific cause was not released at this time.

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

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

A Storied Musical Path

Voted the second-best guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were formed, comprising 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 considered myself to be a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They are reluctant to repeat the same phrase twice."

In addition to being 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 his official biography, he was "integral to the majority of record put out by Stax from 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a very hectic schedule."