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

The artist, who performed on 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.

Considered among the greatest supporting groups in soul and R&B, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax/Volt and is primarily known for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and performed on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired 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 family man and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they continued.

A reason for his passing was not disclosed.

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

"He's such a kind human," Gore commented. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."

A Storied Musical Path

Voted the second-best guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper first found employment at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were founded, consisting of keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded 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 player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They are reluctant to repeat the same lick twice."

As well as 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 "a part of virtually every record released by Stax from 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would often spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."