Nicky Hopkins

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Nicky Hopkins was an English pianist and organist, born in 1944 in Perivale, near London. He had been playing the piano since the age of three and won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. For much of his life he suffered from Crohn's disease. Because of the complications and the many operations, touring was difficult, and so he worked mainly as a session musician in the studio.

Music and breakthrough

In the mid-1960s he was one of the most sought-after session pianists in London. From 1967 he played with The Rolling Stones, with striking parts in She's a Rainbow, from Their Satanic Majesties Request, and in Sympathy for the Devil. He appears on most Stones albums between 1967 and 1981, and his playing on Exile on Main St. in particular is often mentioned. He also played on records by The Kinks and The Who, and the electric piano solo in the Beatles' Revolution is his. In 1968 he became a member of the Jeff Beck Group, and then of Quicksilver Messenger Service. He performed at Woodstock with Jefferson Airplane.

Influence

Hopkins adapted to every kind of song: ballads, hard rock and acoustic work. Ray Davies of The Kinks said that he only played when it was needed, but that his contribution then really made a difference. He is regarded as one of the best studio pianists in the history of rock. Under his own name he made, among others, The Revolutionary Piano of Nicky Hopkins (1966) and The Tin Man Was a Dreamer (1973). Later he wrote film music, with particular success in Japan. He died in 1994 in Nashville, aged fifty.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1966The Revolutionary Piano of Nicky Hopkins
• 1968No Introduction Necessary
• 1972Jamming With Edward!
• 1973The Tin Man Was a Dreamer

In School of Rock

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• Mixtape 4: When Rock Was Still Pop^NL Reader