Nicky Hopkins
Nicky Hopkins (February 24, 1944 - September 6, 1994) was a British musician who featured on scores of the most important British and American popular music recordings of the 1960s and 1970s, playing piano and organ. He is regarded as one of the most important session musicians in rock history, playing on countless hit recordings by leading British and American acts.
Nicky Hopkins started his musical career in the early 1960s as the pianist with Screaming Lord Sutch's Savages, which also included Jimmy Page (another session legend and founder of Led Zeppelin). He then joined The Cyril Davies All Stars, one of the first British rhythm & blues bands and played piano on their Country Line Special LP.
He began his career as a session musician in London in the early Sixties and quickly became one of the most in-demand players on the thriving session scene there, contributing his fluid and dexterous boogie-woogie influenced piano style to many hit recordings. He worked extensively as a session pianist for leading UK independent producers Shel Talmy and Mickie Most and performed on albums and singles by The Kinks, Donovan and especially The Rolling Stones, for whom he gave some of his most memorable performances, notably on their classic late-Sixties albums Beggars Banquet and Let It Bleed.
In 1965, he played piano on The Who's debut LP, The Who Sings My Generation. He recorded with most of the top British acts of the Sixties including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and The Kinks, and on solo albums by John Lennon, Jeff Beck, and others. He also helped define the "San Francisco sound", playing on Jefferson Airplane and Steve Miller Band albums, briefly joined Quicksilver Messenger Service and performed with Jefferson Airplane at the Woodstock Festival.
In 1967 he joined The Jeff Beck Group, formed by former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck, with vocalist Rod Stewart, bassist Ron Wood and drummer Micky Waller and he played on their influential LPs Truth' and Beck-Ola.
As a session player, Hopkins was renowned for his effortless ability to give accomplished performances with little or no rehearsal, and was well-known around the studio scene for his perennial habit of reading comic books at recording sessions.
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