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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 played on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed recently in Nashville.

Often cited among the best backing bands in the history of soul music, the quartet Booker T & the MGs was the core musical unit of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.

Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man.

"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family said in a statement.

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

A cause of death was not disclosed.

An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music.

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

An Illustrious Journey

Voted 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 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 considered myself to be a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I take pride in 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."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and alongside 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 "a part of nearly all record put out by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".

"We would often spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."