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Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.

The artist, who played on and helped pen the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, died on Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.

Often cited among the finest backing bands in soul and R&B, the group Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose profound talent touched countless people around the world," his family stated in a statement.

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

A reason for his passing was not released at this time.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new songs.

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

A Prolific Career

Named the number two guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper first found employment at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were formed, featuring keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

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

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

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to available information, he was "integral to virtually every record put out by Stax from late 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would often spend long days in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had nearly 20 artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."