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

The artist, who contributed to and collaborated on writing Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed on Wednesday in the city of Nashville.

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

Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent inspired countless people around the world," his family expressed in a statement.

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

A specific cause was not immediately known.

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

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

A Storied Musical Path

Voted the runner-up for 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 formed, comprising organist 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 rhythm player," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They won't even play the same lick twice."

Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to available information, he was "integral to the majority of record issued by Stax from late 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would truly spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a very hectic schedule."