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Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84.

The guitar virtuoso, who performed on and co-wrote the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away recently in Music City, Nashville.

Widely regarded among the finest supporting groups in soul music, the group the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

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

"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched countless people around the world," his family expressed in a message.

"While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they added.

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

A friend, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music.

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

A Storied Musical Path

Named the second-best 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 came together, featuring organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.

The band was honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

"I've always considered myself to be a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They won't even play the same riff 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 his official biography, he was "integral to virtually every record put out by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".

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