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Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84.

The musician, who played on and co-wrote the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died recently in Nashville.

Often cited among the best studio bands in soul music, the group Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking 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 late 1970s and performed on their hit cover of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched generations around the world," his family said in a statement.

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

A specific cause was not disclosed.

An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music.

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

A Prolific Career

Named the second-best guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs came together, 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 seen myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper remarked in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and in addition to Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.

According to available information, he was "a part of the majority of record released by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".

"We would often spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had nearly 20 artists we worked with, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."