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Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died 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, succumbed on Wednesday in Nashville.

Widely regarded among the best studio bands in the history of soul music, the group Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the house band of the historic 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 1970s and featured 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 said in a release.

"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a loved one and companion, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they added.

A reason for his passing was not disclosed.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.

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

A Prolific Career

Ranked the second-best guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper started his career at the Stax label 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 replaced 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 said in a past interview. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They are reluctant to repeat the same riff twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific 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 nearly all record issued by Stax from the fall of 1961 through the end of 1970".

"We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had a roster of artists we worked with, so we had a pretty busy schedule."