Talk:Nicky Hopkins

Untitled

NICKY HOPKINS WAS A SCIENTOLOGIST?!?!?!?!? Whoa. I didn't anticipate that in a million years! StarryEyes 13:35, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

she's a rainbow

I believe that NH played the distinctive piano part on the recording 'she's a rainbow'? from the album 'Their satanic...' Is this true? Lentisco 01:44, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

Added sessiongraphy

I added a list of some of his classic moments. Since he isn't the consistent pianist on "Let It Bleed," I noted the songs he plays on.

I got the information that he suffered from Crohn's disease from this excellent radio documentary:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2

It will only be up for the next week. It is the only web-based citation I can find for it. If anyone else listens to this documentary, it would be great if you'd witness here that you heard this fact mentioned (it's near the end). It's a pretty crucial part of his story, since it's the indirect cause of his death, yet it's rarely spelled out. Thanks! --Sojambi Pinola 19:32, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

I heard it. Nicky definitely suffered from Crohn's all his life. See: https://thesessionmanfilm.com/about/ Johnalexwood (talk) 23:17, 24 October 2022 (UTC)

Awards

Did he ever win any Grammy's or other major awards? Steve Dufour 15:06, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

As far as I know, no. He deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Johnalexwood (talk) 23:06, 25 June 2022 (UTC)

Session Man

The song "Session Man" by The Kinks is not about Hopkins, though he played on it. Here's an interview in which he explains that. Can someone correct? Dovic http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/interviews/rock_chronicles/rock_chronicles_1970s_nicky_hopkins.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.2.187.142 (talk) 05:38, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Needs decent discography and a better photo

Thus far, the photo in the infobox and the other non-free image I found has been placed in the article, but a good one of his face is still lacking. Both a song discography (even if limited aka. selected) would nearly complete the basic part of an article. Thanks. --Leahtwosaints (talk) 07:17, 18 May 2011 (UTC)

Hi there. My first contribution ever on Wikipedia. I just want to point out that Nicky Hopkins does not figure in the oicture at the top of the article. The keyboard player on the left is Billy Preston. the guy at the grand piano is Ian Stewart. Nicky Hopkins didn't play on the 1975 Stones tour. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Arroca (talk • contribs) 21:15, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

The above comment is correct: Nicky Hopkins is not in the picture 217.209.212.48 (talk) 14:53, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

the current photo is of Jeff Beck Recorrecto (talk) 19:49, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

No, it isn't. The above comments are old, when the picture in the infobox was a different one. The current photo is fine. Gorpik (talk) 06:31, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

Shouldn't Nicky's huge discography be on a separate page? Johnalexwood (talk) 08:19, 28 June 2021 (UTC)

Any takers for this? His discography is already huge and it's nowhere near complete. Johnalexwood (talk) 23:19, 24 October 2022 (UTC)

Other recordings

I am surprised that one of the most famous songs recorded isn't mentioned, Layla . His piano takes up a good chunk of the latter half of the song and I feel that it is worthy of mention as it takes over from the guitar as the lead instrumental. MalcolmSm1th (talk) 12:53, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

Problem is Nicky did NOT play on Layla - Jim Gordon played the piano part for the end things you're mentioning. Gordon had come up with the part and, though being the drummer for the sessions, played the part during the recording of that piece. Check the wiki article on the tune for details.THX1136 (talk) 18:21, 10 September 2013 (UTC)

Need to add contribution Climax Blues Band's 'I Love You'. I think his name is mentioned if you visit the Wikipedia's site for the song listed for the band. Also it is a very heavy Hopkins sound. 2600:387:F:4118:0:0:0:4 (talk) 13:09, 15 October 2021 (UTC)

GP

Hey, can someone who is a better Wiki writer than me write under his collaborations the two great albums he recorded with Graham Parker? The two were also good friends, and Hopkins played a few shows as the Rumor's (Parker backing band) piano man. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.111.69.42 (talk) 19:09, 28 August 2013 (UTC)

Ray Davies on Nicky Hopkins

The 1995 citation from the New York Times is clearly not an "interview," it is a piece that Davies WROTE about Hopkins, as is very clear from the version on the kindakinks website. It doesn't seem to be on the NYT site, but since the date was Jan. 1, 1995, it was almost definitely from the New York Times Magazine (which is a little separate from the newspaper), they do a special around the end of each year about people who passed away over the preceding 12 months.

That's a pretty big difference, it means somebody from the Times contacted Davies or Davies contacted the Times (probably the former and it would be interesting to know for sure) and then Davies took the time to write it or at least go over something that was ghost-written. There is no rancor in there, it looks like whatever their differences, Davies wanted to give Hopkins proper credit for his important role in the history of the Kinks and of music in general.

I'll change it in a few days if nobody objects. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2604:2000:F82F:FF00:6233:4BFF:FEE8:B46F (talk) 18:59, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

Associated acts

As it stands now, the Associated acts list in the infobox is too long and pretty useless. Such a prolific session musician as Hopkins played with lots of notable artists, of course. But, according to the guidelines, many artists currently in the infobox don't qualify. I haven't got the knowledge of Hopkins's career myself to do the trimming, can someone help?--Gorpik (talk) 07:25, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Hi – yes, you're right. I've had a go at cutting away the obvious excess. Perhaps Lennon, Harrison, Stewart (and others) should go also, thinking about it … On the other hand, from contemporary articles I've read (eg at Rock's Backpages), those two ex-Beatles, particularly, so often get mentioned along with the band names we currently list in the infobox – so the association is very strong, in my mind. Whether they fit the guidelines, I imagine they might not, but really, in the interests of giving readers something useful and well-known, I'd say the content of those guidelines needs revisiting in situations like this. For instance, does the inclusion here of the Rolling Stones adhere to the guidelines? I think it's likely it doesn't, in that he was only ever their "sideman". Yet to exclude that band (along with the Kinks) just seems unthinkable (to me!).

Anyway, I feel I know enough about the late, great Nicky Hopkins to say that those names I have removed are not required. Hope this helps. JG66 (talk) 08:36, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

@JG66: Hi JG66,

You've done a great job in making the list more concise, and I'd say you've got the balance right, IMHO. I also fully agree with you that it would have been wrong to leave out the Rolling Stones, as I recall that Hopkins shot to prominence as a result of his association with them at that time. Mind you, my view on this is probably subjective, because I was interested in the Stones' early career as it was developing, which is how I became aware of Hopkins; most likely, other people became aware of him at different times, through his association with other musicians.

On an unrelated point, I was surprised to see that individual Beatles are referred to by their first names in this article, as I would have expected MOS:SURNAME to apply. I know that there was a tendency to do this at the height of Beatlemania but, when I glanced at the present article, this use of first names immediately came across to me as un-encyclopedic. However, since I am no expert on the Wiki's guidelines or established consensus concerning The Beatles, I'll leave the current prose as it is.

In any case, thank you for your great contributions to our encyclopedia.

With kind regards;

Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(guestbook)} 09:47, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for that @Pdebee: I am thinking, though, that perhaps "the Beatles" should replace Lennon and Harrison, and maybe Stewart should go also, because the association there is actually from when Stewart and Hopkins were both in the Jeff Beck Group …

You're quite right about the inappropriate use of "John", "George", etc. I'll change those mentions, but there's a few other problems with the article, I notice. That long, long quote from Ray Davies, from The New York Times, for one! Cheers, JG66 (talk) 14:45, 21 July 2015 (UTC)

@JG66: Hi JG66,

Thank you for your reply. About your idea to replace 'Lennon' and 'Harrison' with 'The Beatles', I dare say it would depend on whether Hopkins worked with either of them together (on Beatles recordings) or separately (on individual projects). If the latter, I would consider leaving the names as they are. However, it's really up to you, as I don't know enough about the subject matter. I would tend to agree with your idea about 'Stewart'. I certainly share your concern about the long quote, and would love to distill it down in a 'before & after' sandbox!
[Updated at 14:31, 23 July 2015‎:] As you can see, I've now given it a go () and reduced the quote from seven paragraphs down to four. Personally, I would also lose the paragraph where Davies admits they weren't 'bosom buddies'. Please let me know what you think? Or feel free to re-use as much/as little of the contents of the 'After' section to update the article and take it further, if you wish. Or, if you like it as-is, then let me know if you'd prefer I applied the update myself. Thank you.

With kind regards for now;

Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(guestbook)} 11:03, 23 July 2015 (UTC)

@Pdebee: it's definitely a step in the right direction(!). But really – and I thought this ever since the huge quote was added, a year or more ago – I'd want to cut it right down to a few lines, paraphrasing where necessary. (Also, anything to avoid that cquote template, which looks very un-encyclopedic, imo.) I just think that having paragraph after paragraph from the NYT article is giving undue weight to Davies in this article. Can't say the article is high priority for me right now, but I do plan to give it a thorough copyedit/rewrite sometime soon. JG66 (talk) 16:32, 23 July 2015 (UTC)

Nicky played on post-Beatles solo recordings of each member, i.e. John, Paul, George, and Ringo. 49.183.147.126 (talk) 17:41, 30 March 2019 (UTC)

Never Played With Zeppelin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicky_Hopkins "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, including the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.[5]"

Hopkins played with a lot of musical acts. Led Zeppelin was not among them. Another longtime Stones' pianist, Ian Stewart, played with Zeppelin on their tracks 'Rock 'n Roll' and 'Boogie With Stu'. Maybe that's the confusion. Or could it be confusion over Hopkins playing on Jeff Beck's 'Beck's Bolero' with Keith Moon (Who drummer) along with John Paul Jones (bass) and Jimmy Page (guitar) who formed Led Zeppelin 2 years later? The original line-up for 'Beck's Bolero' was supposed to be Beck, Page, Hopkins, Moon, and John Entwistle (Who bassist). Moon and Entwistle were unhappy in The Who at the time, so this line-up was considered as a new band but never materialized. The Led Zep name was later used by Page for his new band with Jones, Robert Plant, and John Bonham.

Andy Wigner — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.90.2.255 (talk) 21:34, 14 October 2016 (UTC)

I've removed the last part of that sentence, since it is not what the reference says. What it says (despite entreaties to join the Stones and Led Zeppelin, Hopkins remained a freelancer) is, in fact, totally compatible with your comment.--Gorpik (talk) 16:04, 19 October 2016 (UTC)

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In the band?

It's not clear from the article which bands Nicky was actually in, and which bands he simply worked with as a session player. Can anyone clarify this? Johnalexwood (talk) 09:48, 28 June 2021 (UTC)

Beatles’ Revolution

It wasn’t really so rare for other musicians to play on Beatles records by the time they released Revolution. In those years from 68 to 70, apart from Hopkins, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston and others played on records. There’s even a Wikipedia page devoted to the subject - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_performed_on_Beatles_recordings. Djewesbury (talk) 18:49, 7 April 2022 (UTC)

Yep, that was just an opinion from a contributor. I have removed it.--Gorpik (talk) 08:55, 8 April 2022 (UTC)