Pianist Nicky Hopkins. (Baron Wolman)
Nicky Hopkins may be the greatest rock and roll musician you’ve never heard of. He played a solo in the Beatle’s “Revolution,” he also plays in “Angie” by the Rolling Stones and worked with The Who and The Kinks. And now there’s a petition drive under way to get Hopkins into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Hopkins’ biography made it onto several “best of lists” for 2011. British musician Julian Dawson‘s labor of love book about Hopkins is called, “And On Piano: The Extraordinary Life of Rock’s Greatest Session Man.” Dawson recorded an album with Hopkins before his death in 1994.
We spoke to Dawson last year, when he told Here & Now’s Deb Becker why he thought Hopkins is such a significant figure.
“Nobody else worked at that incredibly high level of quality and across so many different areas of music, including names like Ella Fitzgerald and Willie Nelson. It’s an incredible box of music that Nicky got through in his short life,” Dawson said.
- Here & Now Book Excerpt: ‘And On Piano’
- Here & Now: Interview With Songwriter Jimmy Webb
- Jimmy Webb: Performance In Shirley, Mass. Friday, January 13
Guest:
- Julian Dawson, author of “And On Piano: The Extraordinary Life of Rock’s Greatest Session Man”
