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

The musician, who played on and co-wrote the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, died this past Wednesday in Nashville.

Widely regarded among the best supporting groups in soul music, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the historic Memphis label Stax and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man.

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

"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a loved one and companion, we take solace knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued.

A specific cause was not immediately known.

A colleague, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.

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

An Illustrious Journey

Voted the number two guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs came together, 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 considered myself to be a rhythm guitarist," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They won't even play the same lick twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and in addition to 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 long days in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."