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Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84.

The guitar virtuoso, who contributed to and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died this past Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.

Widely regarded among the finest studio bands in soul music, the four-piece band Booker T & the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and played on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a statement.

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

A reason for his passing was not disclosed.

An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new songs.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Named the number two guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were founded, featuring 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 seen myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."

In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a productive 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 "a part of the majority of record released by Stax from late 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."