Nicky Hopkins to Rock Hall of Fame

To:  Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation

We, the undersigned, ask the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation to install Nicky Hopkins (2/24/44 – 9/6/94) as a member of the Hall, in the Sidemen category. Regarded by many as one of the most important session musicians in rock history, the late keyboardist deserves the recognition that eluded him, intentionally or not, while alive.
Nicky Hopkins strove to play with the best musicians of his time, quietly exerting his influence on rock, pop and blues by playing on countless hit songs of the 1960s and 1970s. He began playing the piano when he was three, started taking lessons when he was six and at the age of eleven was accepted by the prestigious Royal Academy of Music. Nicky began his career in the London recording studios when he was sixteen and, as he developed a reputation for delivering superb performances with little or no rehearsal, he quickly became very much in demand.
He worked extensively with producers Shel Talmy (The Kinks, The Who, Manfred Mann and David Bowie) and Mickie Most (Herman’s Hermits, Donovan, The Animals, Lulu and Brenda Lee). Both producers used session musicians regularly, often calling on Hopkins along with bassist John Paul Jones and guitarist Jimmy Page.
Nicky Hopkins began a long association with The Rolling Stones sometime around 1965 when he overdubbed piano and harpsichord on the albums Flowers and Between the Buttons. His first original contribution to the band was the song “We Love You,” in which his grand piano dominates over the other instruments, providing the foundation for Jagger’s lead and the background vocals of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The cut was included on Their Satanic Majesty’s Request, an album seemingly built around Nicky’s piano. He continued playing with the Rolling Stones until the 1979 sessions that resulted in both Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You. In total, he appears on 14 Rolling Stones albums. He also worked with The Beatles on each of their albums starting with Sgt. Pepper’s, writing the piano parts for several songs. He rarely appeared on any Beatle recordings, the final takes played by George Martin or John or Paul, but that is he on the up-tempo single version of “Revolution,” and the rumors are he did a piano overdub on the single version of “Hey Jude” and plays extensively on the White Album.
Despite a life-long battle with Crohn's disease, an illness attacking the digestive system and for which there is no known cure, his recorded output was remarkable. He once estimated the number of albums he appeared on from the mid-sixties to the mid-seventies at close to 500, a remarkable average of almost one album every week for ten years. His most prolific year was 1969, during which we saw the release of three band projects involving Hopkins: the self-titled debut of Sweet Thursday, a band that included Jon Mark; The Jeff Beck Group released Beck-Ola; and with John Cipollina he helped reform Quicksilver Messenger Service to record Shady Grove. Some of the other releases of 1969 that are adorned with his brilliant keyboards include Dragonfly by the Strawbs (Rick Wakeman); Family Entertainment by Rick Grecht’s band Family; the Beatle’s protégé Jackie Lomax with Is this What You Want?; The Wedding Album by John and Yoko; and Roy Harper’s Folkjokeopus. That year also gave us Brewer and Shipley’s Weeds as well as Barabajagel by Donovan. The Steve Miller Band released both Brave New World and Your Saving Grace while The Who presented Tommy, a Rock Opera. The year’s biggest albums, all featuring the inimitable keyboard style of Nicky Hopkins, were The Rolling Stones Let it Bleed, the Jefferson Airplane Volunteers and lastly, Rolling Stone Magazine’s 1969 album of the year, Arthur by the Kinks. Even with this heavy recording load, he found time to appear at Woodstock, performing with the Airplane, a memorable scene of both the album and movie.
Hopkins was still very much in demand during the 1970’s. He remained a member of QMS through two more albums, the last containing the radio hit “Fresh Air.” His influence over the San Francisco music scene was powerful as he continued session work with the Airplane, QMS (as a guest rather than a band member) and the Steve Miller Band. He also worked with The New Riders of the Purple Sage on their album Powerglide, and toured and recorded with Jerry Garcia. He contributed heavily to the Stones’ Exile on Main Street, considered by many as the finest rock album ever recorded and toured Europe and the US with the band. He worked with The Who on their album Who’s Next, the band’s best studio album. He appears on a solo album by Ringo Starr and one by Paul McCartney and several of George Harrison’s solo albums. With John Lennon, he recorded perhaps his most beautiful piano work on songs like “Jealous Guy” and “Scared.” He accompanies Lennon on the classic “Imagine” to give the song its full sound. He appears on albums by such diverse artists as Joe Cocker, Peter Frampton, Lowell George, Meatloaf, Rod Stewart, Alice Cooper, Belinda Carlise, Tom Jones, Martha Reeves, Graham Parker, Cheech and Chong, Harry Nilsson, T-Rex, Badfinger, Spinal Tap and Julio Iglesius. In the 1980’s he continued playing with John Cipollina through various bands, such as Terry and the Pirates, Dinosaurs, Raven and Zero. Hopkins collaborated in bands led by Bill Wyman, Bob Weir, Micky Hart, Don Henley and Joe Walsh. By the end of the 1980’s his chronic health problems curtailed his live performances, but he remained active in the studio right up to his death in 1994.
Although Nicky Hopkins was truly one of the greatest session players of all time, he did release three solo albums over the course of his career, the most popular being The Tin Man Was a Dreamer on which George Harrison and Mick Taylor appear, backed by many notable sidemen. He was a member of The Savages (a backup band to both Screaming Lord Sutch and Cyril Davies), and the aforementioned bands Sweet Thursday, the Jeff Beck Group and the Quicksilver Messenger Service, and in the 1980’s Night, with Michael McDonald. He turned down invitations to join Bad Finger and Led Zeppelin, among others. He was never a member of the Stones, although he recorded and toured extensively with them, and most considered him the sixth member of the group.
We, the signers of this petition, humbly ask the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, specifically the nominating committee in the Sidemen category, to recognize the tremendous and unequaled contribution to rock and roll music made by Nicky Hopkins. In death, as in life, he belongs in the company of the finest musicians in the world.
Please visit these sites for more biographical information and complete discographies of Nicky Hopkins: http://rant58.tripod.com/id326.htm and http://rocksoff.org/nicky-index.htm

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Nicky Hopkins to Rock Hall of Fame Petition to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was created by and written by Brian Macdonald (macbrian100@hotmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.

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