Nicky Hopkins
| Nicky Hopkins | |
|---|---|
Hopkins in 1973
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Nicholas Christian Hopkins |
| Born |
24 February 1944 Perivale, Middlesex, England |
| Died | 6 September 1994 (aged 50) Nashville, Tennessee |
| Genres | Rock and roll, rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Keyboards |
| Years active | 1960s–1985 |
| Labels | Fontana |
| Associated acts | Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages, Cyril Davies All Stars, Jerry Garcia Band, the Kinks, the Rolling Stones, the Jeff Beck Group, Sweet Thursday, the Beatles, Steve Miller Band, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Who |
Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. Hopkins recorded and performed on many notable British and American pop and rock music releases from the 1960s through the 1990s including many songs by the Rolling Stones.
Nicholas Christian Hopkins was born in Perivale, Middlesex, England on 24 February 1944. He began playing piano at age three. He attended Wembley County Grammar School, which now forms part of Alperton Community School, and was initially tutored by a local piano teacher; in his teens he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London. He suffered from Crohn's disease from his youth.
His poor health and repeated surgery would later make it difficult for him to tour, and he worked primarily as a session musician for most of his career.
Hopkins' studies were interrupted in 1960 when he left school at 16 to become the pianist with Screaming Lord Sutch's Savages until, two years later, he and fellow Savages Bernie Watson, Rick Brown (aka Ricky Fenson) and Carlo Little, joined the renowned blues harmonica player Cyril Davies, who had just left Blues Incorporated, and became the Cyril Davies (R&B) All-Stars. Hopkins played piano on their first single, Davies' much-admired theme tune "Country Line Special". However he was forced to leave the All Stars in May 1963 for a series of operations that almost cost him his life and was bed-ridden for nineteen months in his late teenage years. During his convalescence Davies died of leukaemia and the All Stars disbanded.
Hopkins' frail health led him to concentrate on working as a session musician instead of joining bands, although he left his mark performing with a wide variety of famous bands. He quickly became one of London's most in-demand session pianists and performed on many hit recordings from this period. He worked extensively for leading UK independent producers Shel Talmy and Andrew Loog Oldham and performed on albums and singles by the Easybeats,the Kinks, the Pretty Things, the Move and The Who.
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