Nicky Hopkins

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Nicholas Christian "Nicky" Hopkins (born February 24, 1944 in London , England , † September 6, 1994 in Nashville , Tennessee ) was a British rock musician and composer . He played the piano , organ and harpsichord and was one of the busiest session musicians and most sought-after rock pianists of the rock and rock 'n' roll era of the 1960s and 1970s. As a studio and live musician, Hopkins was mainly active in Great Britain and the USA . He played with the greats of the rock and pop scene, including The Beatles , The Who , The Rolling Stones , The Kinks , Dusty Springfield , Tom Jones , Graham Parker , Jerry García , Joe Cocker and Art Garfunkel . He accompanied the band Jefferson Airplane and took part in the legendary Woodstock Festival in 1969.

Hopkins was involved in countless titles as the often unnamed accompanist for many rock stars of the time. He was seen as reserved and introverted and was predestined to the extent that Sideman would more or less allow his customers and clients to recognize his musical work. A few of Hopkins' solo projects remained relatively unsuccessful, not least because of the frontman's lack of extroversion , whereas his later activities as a composer of film music were more important to him. One of his most famous works is Edward, The Mad Shirt Grinder from Quicksilver Messenger Service .

Hopkins had massive health problems from early childhood that would have stayed with him all his life and would also affect his professional career. In addition, after initial reluctance, he had to struggle with drug, pill and alcohol addiction. He died in Nashville in 1994 at the age of 50 of complications from chronic bowel disease, Crohn's disease .

biography

The beginnings

Hopkins was the youngest of four siblings and had a brother, Paul, and two sisters, Dee and Julia. He developed a passion for collecting nostalgic things early on, especially tin cans, which later became a kind of trademark alongside his piano playing. Health problems also made themselves felt again and again. Nevertheless, his musical talent, which was intensively promoted in his parents' house, was noticed in early childhood. He received piano lessons at pre-school age and later classical piano training at the Royal Academy of Music . Hopkins also had a talent as a draftsman and caricaturist and later designed the record cover for "Jamming with Edward!" 

At the age of 16, Hopkins formed their first rock 'n' roll band called The Savages , together with drummer Carlo Little and guitarists Ricky Brown and Bernie Watson , to which singer David Sutch would join shortly afterwards known as Screaming Lord Sutch . In 1962, Hopkins appeared with Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers at the Hamburg Star Club . He then joined the then popular blues musician Cyril Davies and his band Cyril Davies' All Stars , which included Long John Baldry .

Hopkins regular appearances in local clubs quickly earned him a reputation as an excellent accompanist and led to many studio work, where he also met with then unknown colleagues such as Eric Clapton , Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones .

Further development

A serious illness that nearly cost him his life abruptly interrupted Hopkins' career for more than a year and a half in 1963, but by 1965 he was back on the scene. The word of his pianist skills quickly spread, and Hopkins quickly achieved his goal of becoming London's busiest studio musician. Between the many studio appointments, he later increasingly took part in tours despite his chronically fragile state of health. He usually worked with the most famous bands and performers, such as the Beatles, David Bowie , Cat Stevens , the Kinks or Fats Domino and released his first solo album, The Revolutionary Piano of Nicky Hopkins , in 1966 . Ray Davies was writing Session Man at the time , which has been claimed to be dedicated to Nicky Hopkins. In fact, Davies was inspired by Hopkins, but explicitly denied having composed the song for him.

After a concert with Jefferson Airplane in 1967, the present composer Karlheinz Stockhausen described him as a "real musician" - how he modulates from one key to the next during his solos, until he lands again in C major, the only key that the rest the band was familiar ... He is a real professional, it's a shame that he is not available for serious music.

One of the most intense commitments was his studio and live engagements with the Rolling Stones, which began around 1967 and which have repeatedly pushed him to the limit of his physical capacity over the years. Nevertheless, one of the few express appreciations of his musical contributions can be found on the back of the record cover of Beggars Banquet and reads: “We are deeply indebted to Nicky Hopkins and to many friends” (German: “We are deeply indebted to Nicky Hopkins and many friends "). Both the Stones and The Who, Hopkins was discussed several times as an official band member. Pete Townshend made him an offer in the early 1970s, but Hopkins never accepted. A corresponding offer from the Rolling Stones has never been confirmed without reservation, although the collaboration lasted until 1981.

His work for Revolution of the Beatles and the recordings for the Rolling Stones also increased his international reputation. Around 1968 Nicky Hopkins founded together with Jon Mark , Alun Davies, Harvey Burns and Brian Odgers the band "Sweet Thursday", whose album of the same name (" Sweet Thursday ", 1969) was unsuccessful due to the bankruptcy of the record company. After a North American tour with the Jeff Beck Group Hopkins in 1969 moved to Mill Valley ( California ) in the San Francisco Bay Area , where he married his first wife Dolly, a member of the group Quicksilver Messenger Service was with the Steve Miller Band and Jefferson Airplane played.

In the 1970s, two more unsuccessful solo projects followed. Hopkins continued his work for the Rolling Stones and after the breakup of the Beatles for solo projects their individual members. This also included his 1971 participation on John Lennon's album Imagine . In 1975 he played a crucial role in the soundtrack to the rock opera Tommy by The Who and was accordingly mentioned by name on the album cover. After further tours and productions with, among others, Jerry Garcia and Joe Cocker, his lifestyle and behavior began to change noticeably in the mid-1970s and, with a rapidly progressing change in personality, showed signs of an addiction , triggered by excessive tablet, alcohol and drug consumption Chain smoker Hopkins had always successfully avoided the path up until then, despite various incentives. Surprisingly, this did not affect his piano playing and his musical expressiveness worth mentioning, but Hopkins was also increasingly confronted with a rapidly changing music world, to whose production methods and styles he found it difficult to catch up with. He found help in successfully combating his drug addiction and coping with his problems during a rehab at Narconon , an institution closely related to Scientology , but without adopting its philosophy and beliefs.

The later years

After his recovery, Hopkins continued to work and accompanied top acts from the rock and pop scene, including Rod Stewart , Meat Loaf , Graham Parker , Nils Lofgren and Julio Iglesias . In 1982 he performed with Terry & The Pirates, which included John Cipollina , the former guitarist of Quicksilver Messenger Service, in the Rockpalast of the WDR . With the establishment of synthesizers and digital effects in the changing production routine, however, his conservative attitude and attachment to the acoustic instrument was detrimental to his order situation and even cost him jobs, for example at John Lennon , who preferred his comeback album Double Fantasy with a fresh one and wanted to bring in unused tape. Hopkins found himself increasingly in the situation of a musical "dinosaur" who had to be reproached for not being up to date anymore.

In 1986, Hopkins and his wife Dolly divorced and shortly afterwards he married Moira Buchanan from Scotland. He returned briefly to London for some productions by Art Garfunkel, Jack Bruce and Gary Moore , but could not get used to the changes that had occurred in the music industry and went back to Los Angeles . There he was given the opportunity to compose film music for a Japanese production company and was not only satisfied with this job, but also successful. Work for well-known artists such as Paul McCartney , Roger Chapman , Joe Satriani , David Bowie, Albert Lee , The Jayhawks and The Dogs D'Amour followed . Over time, Hopkins also overcame his aversion to digital and electronic instrumentation and production work, immersed himself in the new subject and has been on the cutting edge of developments ever since.

Renewed health problems and the justified fear of an earthquake in California made the company move to Nashville in 1993. Hopkins was quickly integrated into the local music scene and started new collaborations and projects with musicians like Joe Walsh and Frankie Miller . Hopkins made his last studio recording in the spring of 1994 with the British singer-songwriter Julian Dawson for their joint composition You're Listening Now .

On September 6, 1994, Hopkins died after a flare-up of the complications of Crohn's disease.

Discography

Exact naming of all recordings and productions in which Hopkins was involved can no longer be found out because studio musicians, especially at the beginning of Hopkins' career, were usually not named on the albums. The following is an excerpt of important contributions.

Solo projects and film music

Hopkins had record deals with various companies and published his own material with CBS and Mercury (US), his film compositions with Toshiba- EMI .

  • The Revolutionary Piano of Nicky Hopkins (1966)
  • The Tin Man Was a Dreamer (1973)
  • No More Changes (1976)
  • The Fugative (Soundtrack) (1992)
  • Patio (Soundtrack) (1992)
  • Namiki Family (1993)

literature

  • Julian Dawson: Nicky Hopkins. A rock legend , translated by Kristian Lutze; Edition Elke Heidenreich at C. Bertelsmann, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-570-58001-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Julian Dawson: Nicky Hopkins. A rock legend , Edition Elke Heidenreich at C. Bertelsmann, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-570-58001-1
  2. ^ Julian Dawson: Nicky Hopkins. A rock legend , Edition Elke Heidenreich at C. Bertelsmann, Munich 2010, page 26. ISBN 978-3-570-58001-1
  3. ↑ a b c Official Website - Biography
  4. ^ Julian Dawson: Nicky Hopkins. A rock legend , Edition Elke Heidenreich at C. Bertelsmann, Munich 2010, page 30. ISBN 978-3-570-58001-1
  5. ^ Julian Dawson: Nicky Hopkins. A rock legend , Edition Elke Heidenreich at C. Bertelsmann, Munich 2010, page 43. ISBN 978-3-570-58001-1
  6. ^ Julian Dawson: Nicky Hopkins. A rock legend , Edition Elke Heidenreich at C. Bertelsmann, Munich 2010, page 80. ISBN 978-3-570-58001-1
  7. ↑ Ray Davies on Nicky Hopkins in the New York Times, 1995
  8. ^ Julian Dawson: Nicky Hopkins. A rock legend , Edition Elke Heidenreich at C. Bertelsmann, Munich 2010, page 110 ff. ISBN 978-3-570-58001-1
  9. ↑ Quoted from Mary Bauermeister : I'm hanging in the triplet grid. My life with Karlheiz Stockhausen , Edition Elke Heidenreich at C. Bertelsmann, Munich 2011, page 202. ISBN 978-3-570-58024-0
  10. ↑ Review on allmusic.com
  11. ^ Julian Dawson: Nicky Hopkins. A rock legend , Edition Elke Heidenreich at C. Bertelsmann, Munich 2010, page 212 ff. ISBN 978-3-570-58001-1
  12. ^ Julian Dawson: Nicky Hopkins. A rock legend , Edition Elke Heidenreich at C. Bertelsmann, Munich 2010, page 292 ff. ISBN 978-3-570-58001-1
  13. ↑ Rockpalast Archive Online
  14. ^ A b Julian Dawson: Nicky Hopkins. A rock legend , Edition Elke Heidenreich at C. Bertelsmann, Munich 2010, page 369 ff. ISBN 978-3-570-58001-1
  15. ↑ Official website - discography
  16. ↑ Review in Musik Express
personal data
SURNAME Hopkins, Nicky
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hopkins, Nicholas Christian (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British rock musician, pianist
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH September 6, 1994
Place of death Nashville , Tennessee