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[Tape whirrs]

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[Crowd applauds]

NARRATOR: And on piano,
the legendary Nicky Hopkins.

[Crowd cheers]

[Pop-rock music plays]

It was this unique marriage
of the rawness

of the electric guitars
and the rhythm section,

and then the wider palette
of the piano.

Piano says, has all the colors
and can say everything.

And a, a guy
who's as talented as Nicky

can take a simple song

and fill it with all kinds
of extra meaning and feeling.

Nicky could do
the absolute incredible...

you would believe that
Otis Spann was in the room,

which for, for a white
English kid in 1960s,

was absolutely amazing.

GREG: You didn't realize
how amazing he was

until you would take
his contribution out.

And then you realize,
oh man, that's, you know.

He's adding stuff in there that
broadens and deepens the songs.

Or he's like, right out front.

He can entrance, he could play
just about anything.

It was inspiring.
He was talented.

He was invisible. It's an
instinct. It's an art form.

Being a good session man.

It absolutely blew my mind
to see

this list of such classic songs

that are still
being played today.

And he performed on those.

I started listening
for what he's added,

and it's like, it's genius,
absolute genius.

NARRATOR:
Over a 30 year period,

Nicky Hopkins would play
on over 250 albums.

[Tape whirrs; piano plays]

In the golden age
of rock and roll,

bands consisted
of guitar and drums,

until they realized
that the piano

added harmonic richness
and melodic flair.

Then, along came the legendary
pianist, Nicky Hopkins.

[Blues piano plays]

You know the story.
It was when I was a little kid

and I was tall enough
to reach up to play this...

I didn't know what was up there.
It was just this table thing.

And all of a sudden,
these things on the top,

which were the keys, right?

Started making a noise,
and I got into it.

Mum lifted me up and helped me
for about three years, and...

You know, I picked it up.

INTERVIEWER: So by the time you
were six, you were rocking out?

- Almost.
- Yeah.

He learned classical music
to start with.

He went to the Royal
Academy of Music

and discovered rock and roll
when he was in his teens.

So he had both these strands,
which is what I think,

one of the things
that makes him unique.

So he could play very melodic,
semi-classical parts,

but he also could play
very beautiful gospel parts,

and very good blues playing.

BOB HARRIS: Nicky left
the Royal Academy

and its emphasis
on classical music

when he was 16 years old

and joined three other
aspiring musicians.

They became the Savages.

[Rock music plays]

For Nicky, it was a raw entry
into the world of rock and roll,

boozy venues
and shady nightclubs.

The '60s, if you were
a teenager in the 1960s,

you believed
you could do anything.

It was a land
of opportunity, then.

It was fantastic
to be in London in the 1960s.

Well, at 16, yeah.
We played local cinemas.

Back in those days, they could,

they'd have a little group on
before the movie.

We had so much great music
coming from America,

and unfortunately, you couldn't
always see these artists.

So that led to, uh, a great,
uh, boom in British artists.

The first pro gig I did was

with this bizarre character
called Screaming Lord Sutch.

INTERVIEWER: Oh, yes.
I remember Screaming Lord Sutch.

MIKE: It was, uh,
you know, basic.

It was very basic, very cheap,
and none of us had any money.

So I used to turn up
and sometimes

you had to look for a poster,

see where we were playing,
and then find the gig.

And then of course, the whole
club circuit developed on pubs.

And, uh, that's where the,
uh, young British bands

really learned how to play
and how to perform to audiences.

All those clubs, you know,
from Soho

going out all the way down to,
you know,

Crawdaddy in Richmond
or Eel Pie Island in Twickenham

or the Ricky-Tick in Windsor.

They're all in the area
where I lived.

One of my favorite places was
Eel Pie Island on the Thames,

where you had to cross
a little bridge

and you had to pay tuppence
to a little old lady, a toll.

[Rock music fades]

[Harmonica plays]

BOB: In November 1961,

Nicky joined
the legendary Cyril Davies.

Cyril was a blues guy,

a phenomenal blues
harmonica player,

who was with Alexis Korner

and decided to leave Alexis
to form his own band.

And I understood why,

because Alexis was playing
the right material,

but very insipidly.

Cyril went off on his own
and made his own band,

which was called
the Cyril Davies All-Stars.

And this included, amongst
some other great players,

Nicky Hopkins,
very young piano player.

NICKY: Cyril was
a very aggressive guy

who wanted an authentic
Chicago blues band.

And he actually
took Sutch's band.

We had gotten pissed off
with Sutch for some reason, uh,

and left Sutch
about a month before,

and then all of a sudden the
entire band, except for Sutch,

were just backing Cyril,

and we filled out the marquee
every Thursday night to capacity

and then beyond.

Mick and I were down the club

and we went to see Cyril, and
see what his new band was like.

And the piano player, they just
blew, he just blew us away.

There's this little white kid,
and he's sounding like

he's in the back room of
somewhere in Mississippi

or Chicago.

He is phenomenal,
you know, he is.

And that was my first,
Mick and I looked at each other:

Whoa. You know,
where did Cyril find this guy?

Star, he had a special star,

which was this combination
of gospel and classical

that, that I didn't ever
heard anyone else do.

Seriously enough,

it was during that period of
doing the marquee every week

that I met up with the Stones.

INTERVIEWER:
What year now, Nicky,

that you met up
with the Stones?

- Still the tail end of '62.
- Oh, wow. That early then.

- Oh, yeah.
- I see.

In fact, they were just starting
and we were just starting.

We already had our audience.

Uh, they didn't,
so they were our support act.

When I first met him,
um, when he was playing

with Cyril Davies at the Marquee

'cause we were opening for Cyril
Davies for about five shows

until we started to get a bit
more applause than expected.

And then we got fired because
he didn't like the competition.

[Music fades]

BOB: In May, 1963,

Nicky was rushed into King
Edward's Hospital in Park Royal

with internal trouble and
was put on the critical list.

He was later diagnosed
with Crohn's disease,

which was complicated
by losing his gallbladder,

his left kidney,
and suffering a collapsed lung.

Crohn's disease
is something where the, um,

the guts effectively become
very inflamed, um,

because the immune system
isn't working properly.

BOB: And as one young musician
would testify,

Crohn's is no fun.

It kind of came out of nowhere.

I had it, I had symptoms for
about three months of vomiting,

diarrhea, loss
of weight, fatigue.

And it got to the point where
I was rushed to hospital

and then I was quite quickly
diagnosed with Crohn's.

But then, certainly, very little
was known and understood

and how to treat it even less.

Trying to navigate your way
through normal life,

as well as being a musician
as well, which is, you know,

rock and roll and Crohn's
don't go hand in hand.

BOB: Nicky's unexpected
hospitalization

was to be
the start of an illness

that plagued him all his life.

[Piano plays]

The way I ran into,
found out about Nicky is, uh,

there was a, my go-to drummer
at the time was Bobby Graham,

who was one of the great
drummers in England.

And, uh, he told me that

he saw this kid named
Nicky Hopkins playing piano.

And he was terrific,
and I should check him out.

So I did.
And he was absolutely correct.

Cyril Davies came in one Sunday

and he brought
this young lad with him

who looked terribly ill,
I must say.

- The one thing I remember...
- He was so thin.

He was incredibly thin anyway,

but he'd turned up in clothes
he'd obviously been wearing

before he'd been
in the hospital.

Apparently he was playing the
piano, so I mic'ed the piano up

He started playing and I'd never
heard anything close to it.

So when the session finished,
I went up to him

and I said, well,
give me your number

and I'm sure I can get you
lots of work, and da da da.

And he said, "Well,
I'm not available at the moment

'cause I'm still not recovered
from these operations I've had."

So I said, "Well,
here's my number.

You ring me when
you are feeling up to it,

and I know I can get you
lots of work."

- Which he did, and I did.
- I know.

Glyn, who was a producer
and engineer,

recognized instantly
that this guy

was going to be an important
session player

because he covered so much,
so many bases.

And that's where Nicky Hopkins
could come in

as a classically trained pianist

who also miraculously could play
in so many different styles,

whether it was boogie-woogie,
the blues, rock and roll,

he could do it all.

[Music fades]

Ray wrote a, a poignant
kind of, bit of a dig,

but respectful song
called "Session Man".

Nicky plays this incredible
baroque-esque type intro

on the harpsichord.

And I first saw Nicky's name
playing harpsichord,

I think, on a Kinks record.

And man, you know,
from day one, he was,

he was a guy
that you would know, that's him,

and you'd pay attention,

'cause he always brought
something beautiful

out of the song.

The studios, they had
a harpsichord for orchestras.

And we used to dabble with it.
And it somehow happened

Nicky knew how to play
the thing.

So it became integrated
because it was there.

And Ray liked the sounds
and I loved the sounds.

'Cause the bands wanted
keyboards on their records.

But actually, in most cases,
they were known as guitar bands.

It was simple, basic,

what we wanted, sexually-driven
kind of aggression.

Nicky had the ability
to meld things together

without getting in the way.

Of course, he was
technically brilliant, anyway.

These are people who,
you know, worked every day.

This was their job,
is to make great music

and to make good music better.

And I think Nicky was a prime
member of that fraternity.

DAVE: And I think he worked
very well with Ray

and extending Ray's vision
of what to play on the piece.

You took Nicky away. It was
like the magic disappeared.

Um, you don't what the magic is,

but something was missing

if you took his performance away
from the recording.

[Piano plays]

So if we look back at
some of those early Who records,

we can see, like, evidence
of Nicky's musicality.

I had no idea what he was gonna
do or how he was gonna do it,

or what show Tommy expected
of him, how he was gonna fit in.

But of course,
I did know who he was.

He'd played on
"Country Line Special" and,

and really not get a sense of,
of where this incredible blues,

high-speed blues piano
came from.

He would just be
in the background

and Pete would say,
okay, we need some piano.

We need this. And Nicky
would just get up and play.

So there's no clash
of egos going on.

And, and the Who had massive
clashes of egos in that band.

Not bad, but they,

that was why I think Nicky
probably fitted in.

Later, on Who's Next
and Who by Numbers ,

Nicky's contributions
were very different.

They were very creative.

He was much more rounded,

much more straightforward
to work with.

He didn't fall back into
just doing his part.

He was really quite brilliant.

[Music fades]

And what he's doing is he's
sort of, he's adding tension.

'cause most blues songs are kind
of like that medium tempo,

but then he'd sort of
double it up, you know?

So instead of playing
same rhythm as the guitars,

which could be, you know,

[Upbeat piano plays]

I think he might do...

[Upbeat faster piano plays]

And especially
on numbers like "The Ox",

which is, uh,
an instrumental by The Who.

And just in the background,

you can hear this frantic
piano going...

[Fast piano plays]

Again, about halfway through
the tune, there's a piano break

and it's very clearly
this kind of thing.

[Fast melodic piano plays]

Which, uh, you know,

it's that he runs this riff
throughout the whole tune

with, you know,
a few little variations as well.

And, you know, this sounds
very much like a jam.

And they sort of do
sort of merge into a 12 bar.

[Melodic piano plays]

Nicky's there
with these crazy...

[Fast piano plays]

You know, in dispersing it
with the original riff.

In 1967, I was doing, um,
Cat Stevens' first album,

Matthew and Son.

And Nicky turned up
and did the album

along with the other musicians.

And Nicky was fantastic.

There's one track
on the Cat Stevens album,

Matthew and Son ,
called "Granny".

And he just played a great piano
on that. It's piano heavy.

He did a fantastic job.
Nicky added to the mix.

I mean, in other words,
he wasn't just an ancillary,

I mean, what you have
with most session musicians,

they, they come in, they do
their job for three hours,

they'd disappear.

Uh, Nicky wasn't like that.

Nicky did want to do it again if
he felt he could make it better.

PP Arnold, Pat Arnold
was one of the Ikettes,

Ike and Tina Turner's backing
group, three girl singers.

And I had a phone call
from Andrew Loog Oldham,

who was the Stones' manager.

And he said, "I've signed
this girl from the Ikettes

and we're gonna call
her PP Arnold."

We were brainstorming

what material I would record
for the first album.

I was, uh, called the First Lady
of Immediate Records.

So Mike Hurst,
who also produced Cat Stevens,

brought this great song
to the meeting,

which was
"The First Cut is the Deepest".

If people ask me
what I'm proudest of,

probably there are two records.

One's a Cat Stevens track,
uh, "I Love My Dog".

Strangely enough, the first one.

The other one is
"The First Cut is the Deepest".

When I came into the studio
and I met Nicky,

he was this really lovely,
sweet guy,

you know, very quiet,
very calming.

So I felt really this calming
effect from him

that helped me to relax

because I was kinda shy
and introverted as well.

So, and then, that is until
he started playing the piano,

and I realized
this guy is there,

this beautiful, sweet guy,

no ego coming off of him.

And he's like the real deal.
You know?

[PP Arnold's "The First Cut
is the Deepest" plays and fades]

BOB: Was it serendipity

that their paths crossed
in those early days

at the Marquee Club?
Who knows?

For Nicky, the Rolling Stones

would become
a big part of his life.

When Nicky came into
the Rolling Stones scene

and all of a sudden
this guitar band

had this whole other color
to it,

or a bunch of colors.

We were coming up with
songs that, uh,

absolutely beyond Stu's, let
alone capability, his dreams.

He didn't want to know. So
I think that Stu called, said:

"The only guy that can handle
this is Nicky Hopkins."

"She's a Rainbow",
absolutely classic Stones song

with some beautiful piano
from Nicky on it.

This great introduction,
which really sets up the song

and again, you know, hugely, uh,
identifying part of the song.

So the intro's got
this very elegantly,

beautifully played piano.

[Plays melodic piano]

Stu was quite happy not to be
playing what Nicky was.

Stu always said, you know,

if you ever did any major-minor,
he went to minor chords.

He said, I don't play
any of those Chinese shit.

And I remember
hearing that piano

and it was this haunting intro,
and then it was anticipated

and it, it, it kind of like
didn't follow a click.

It was just like
this freeform thing.

And, and it got my attention as,
as a musician early on.

[Plays soft piano]

He had an intuitive feeling
of where the piano should sit

and where it should be.

'Cause you're playing with
two other stringed instruments

and in a way, you are a bridge.

You know, it's between the rest
of the band being on piano.

Um, I don't think
Nicky knew how, you know,

good he was, or just, you know,

his instinct for the right note
at the right place.

So, uh, how could I not do,
uh, justice by mentioning,

uh, "Sympathy for the Devil" and
Nicky's contribution to that.

Uh, very simple on the intro,
block chords,

but he does one very cool thing.
So you got...

[Sings]: ♪ Please allow me
to introduce myself

♪ I'm a man...

[Ascending notes]

He does that little lift

to bring it back to the, uh,
tonic of the course of truth.

♪ Please allow me
to introduce myself

♪ I'm a man
of wealth and taste ♪

And he does that
as you go through the song.

And then by the...
get to the end,

and he's doing
this great, uh, figure

using a seven chord like this.

[Plays upbeat piano]

You know, Nicky's just playing
this piano part

that sits nicely with the band,
doesn't stick out too much,

but you know, he is there.
So we've got this.

But whenever you sort of
started on a track

and sort of just put
some basics on,

suddenly Nicky
had just come out with a riff

or a, a melody line
or something,

which completely changed
the song.

I felt, uh, this thing
between Nicky and me,

'cause I'm churning out songs,
you know,

and, uh, you know, they're
only half written, half made.

And yeah, we, we're
boiling it in the studio

kind of thing, cooking it up.

And the way that Nicky
would cotton onto

what I was just sort of
barely laying down.

And I say, Nicky and I
would look at each other and go,

[Breathes in]
'cause it was the other part

that was in my head,

but I couldn't put my finger on.

Just always adding
that textural thing

and then sort of popping out
of the texture when,

when called upon.

The way that Nicky plays that
and swings it and voices it

and chooses to play these,
these chords here.

And his just
incredible rhythm.

Yeah, that's what drives
the track to me.

That and Keith's bass playing on
that is astonishing.

And somehow
nearly with every other song,

Nicky would find that part.

And so we always had this sort
of strange partnership

between ourselves, you know?

'Cause I would count on him
sometimes, say,

"I've got a half a song here,
Nicky, you know, yeah,

find me the other part",
you know? Yeah.

And every time he'd come up
with it, an incredible player.

No, he was a stunning,
stunning player. I've never...

I think it's particularly
underlined in the period of time

with the Rolling Stones,

which where he was featured,
pretty much.

When Mick Taylor
was in the band.

Those albums,
which you'll, you'll quote...

BILL: Beggars Banquet;
Sticky Fingers;

Exile on Main Street;
Let It Bleed.

All those four were
stunning albums.

One of my favorite Stones songs,
"Monkey Man", I just...

I play that
till the cows come home.

His introduction on that song.

It's like a, you know,
it's like a great movie scene.

The first shot you see is like,
you know,

wow, it's just gonna be great.

Just very distinctive chords.

[Fast, high-pitched
ascending notes]

Um, you know,
Nicky plays them great,

and I'm sure he came up
with that arpeggio idea

rather than just, you know,

he could have played them as,
played them as chords,

or even down here,

[Plays lower notes]

but he chose to play them
like that.

And it adds an instant
atmosphere to the song.

It's so iconic
what he's doing there.

You know, you think
of iconic guitar riffs.

Well, he was the master
and the creator

of a lot of iconic piano riffs.

And outside blues piano,

you can't think of
a lot of other people

whose riffs just hang
in your mind

the way Nicky's do.

BOB: In total, Nicky
would contribute

to 14 Rolling Stones albums.

I remember listening
to "Revolution"

from The Beatles as a kid,

and I just remember
hearing that crazy, crazy, uh,

uh, you know,
electric piano solo

and what he did
at the end of the song.

And I thought that was really
cool because, uh, you know,

understanding that
The Beatles were

a quartet with two guitars,
bass, and a drum.

They didn't have a keyboardist.
So it's like, who was that?

And what do you do
when The Beatles call you in

to play on something?

I mean, Nicky walked in
and played this solo,

which is
an absolutely killing solo.

It's got some really cool ideas
in it.

Um, it goes something like this.

[Plays fast upbeat piano]

Again, it's an absolutely
rollicking solo,

and it's got, um, it's got
these kind of cool ideas.

[Plays fast, repeating notes]

Just kind of
a Nicky Hopkins trademark

in the sense that he's got
that kind of movement,

that voicing that is changing.

It's not just...
[Plays same notes fast]

He's actually got some
inner-voice movement in there.

[Plays variety of notes fast]

BOB: The remarkable thing about
playing on a Beatles album

was that it gave Nicky
his first Grand Slam.

It meant that he'd now recorded
with the Kinks, The Who,

the Rolling Stones
and the Beatles.

[Upbeat rock music]

Nicky was not the star.
He was the side man.

His job was to make
the records better

and not to go,
look, look at me!

And, uh, I think that,
in that role,

he was much more purely
and essentially a musician.

I couldn't employ him full-time.

And I, he was too good to sit,
sit around and do nothing.

So, uh, I knew all those guys
and, um, I said, you know, uh,

"I've got a great piano player
for you.

You gotta check him out."

And of course, they,
all of 'em wound up using him.

Everybody would always talk
about Nicky Hopkins, this,

and Nicky Hopkins, that.

And, and sadly,
I became very aware

that he was playing
on everything.

Nicky had three years
of session work in London

where he played with
absolutely everybody,

In each record,
each record album we did.

And then it was done.
And then it was, oh, well,

what's the next one
gonna be like?

And we'd get on
and do the next one.

It was never with any viewpoint
of having made a record

that people were gonna listen to
10 years, 15 years,

20 years, 25 years
into the future.

I think most people that, uh,
that work with Nicky,

they get him to come
and do one song,

and then they suddenly realize,

he'd be great
on that other side. [Laughs]

He said to me when
he was working with Eric,

he said he'd go over and, uh,

and Eric would say,
"Oh, that was wonderful."

"So do you, look,
let me show you this one..."

- Eric is?
- Eric Clapton, I mean, yeah.

He was one of the busiest and
most successful session players,

and then decided
he would go back on the road

and join the Jeff Beck Group.

[Piano plays]

BOB: The Jeff Beck group
didn't ease Nicky's workload,

but it took him to America,

a country that was to have
a big impact on him.

The Truth album
would introduce the talents

of Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood,

And man, Nicky's feel,

and the notes
that pour out of his soul

and land underneath
Rod Stewart's vocal

and Jeff Beck's guitar
are absolutely perfect

for such a badass rock track.

He would use different styles
that were more heavy-handed.

He could enter
into rock and roll.

Well, now here was Nicky
with that classical training

being very soulful, bluesy,
innovative, and improvising,

but with the precision of
a classical player.

He had this,
how would you say, cachet,

he had this cachet
of information

that he could
cross-reference.

He could put classical,
Beethoven,

or whatever instances
you would use.

The way Nicky played,

there was like a,
there was a soulful precision.

So even when he was improvising
and going crazy,

it was always really kind of
in place, but very soulful.

[Music fades]

[Soul music plays]

Michael Chechik was doing
a radio documentary,

and part of it was recording
an interview with Glyn Johns.

And, uh, that took
a couple hours actually.

And, uh, Glyn and I started
talking about recording sound,

and he invited me over to
Wally Heider Recording

where he was doing sessions
with Steve Miller.

I took him to San Francisco
to do a Steve Miller album,

which he was brilliant on.

I was a sound engineer myself,

and I was picking up tips from
Glyn as I watched him, uh,

for the duration of recording
the Steve Miller album

Your Saving Grace.

And he stayed, and I think

he got hit on by
Quicksilver Messenger Service

- and he played with them.
- Yeah he did, yeah.

I was blown away by
his keyboard, um, playing.

I saw that he was
above and beyond

just about anybody
I'd ever heard.

After working a long day,

we were listening to
an old Steve Miller band album,

and we were listening to
Your Saving Grace , which is,

um, has a song on it, "Baby's
House", which Steve Miller, um,

had Nicky Hopkins
on piano and organ,

and it's my favorite performance
of Nicky's.

People were desperate to try

and follow in the footsteps of
Sergeant Pepper,

really, I suppose
that's what started it all.

And of course, an album by
then could sell him millions.

That's why it was so important

to spend a lot of time
in the studios

with the best musicians
available

to produce the finest album
you could do.

[Piano fades]

BOB: Nicky was still playing
with the Jeff Beck Group,

but internal friction
within the band

had reached breaking point

with the departure of
Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart.

So he stayed in Mill Valley,
um, north of San Francisco.

Immediately, having now played
with the Stones

on Famous Records
and the Beatles,

he immediately was, um,
embraced as rock royalty.

You know, the, the San Francisco
bands were basically,

it was kind of like Motown.

I mean, they were a family.

Now, all the San Francisco bands
at this time

were recording
at Wally Heider Studio,

which was still moderately new
down on Post Street.

And, and people were just
hanging out all the time.

Usually, if somebody
came to town

like Nicky did for Steve Miller,

he would get with this family

and was meeting members
of the Dead

and members of Quicksilver
and the Airplane.

And he ended up just, I think
he fell in love with the town

and, um, decided to stay
for a while.

[Rock music plays]

Now, I wish that I could say
who it was

that got Nicky involved
in this,

but whoever it was:
good thinking,

because he did some incredible
playing on that record.

JACK: Nicky's left hand
would just solidify us,

like putting pinpoints of
foundations around a building

as he'd fill in
other harmonic aspects to it.

It wasn't a left hand
playing rhythm

then the right hand
doing melody.

He would work truly like a,
a concert pianist,

like a classical musician.

And he, and
with all of his training,

the rest of us would
just fall right in line.

Before, as we'd work on
the songs, Nicky would come in

and put that, just the,
the solidness into the track.

He should have played
at Woodstock

with the Jeff Beck group.

But Jeff Beck sulked
and went home.

But Nicky still played
at Woodstock

because he was on stage
with the Jefferson Airplane.

JACK: Woodstock
at the beginning of the tour

was just another gig we had.

We had to be somewhere else
a couple of days later.

I don't think anybody had an
idea what was gonna happen.

And I remember that when we,
when the Airplane,

everybody's got their own story
about this, but,

but we went on
about 18 hours late.

If we were to do a festival
like that today, it would be,

I hope I never work this gig
again as long as I live.

I mean, for a lot of reasons.

Even though the world was really
in a really bad state,

we were going through
the Vietnam War, civil rights,

but the youth were
bringing it all together.

We were trying to change things.

So it was a time of change
for humanity.

I will never play for a crowd as
big as this, as long as I live.

And when we actually see that
it defies description.

BOB: Woodstock would later
be regarded as a pivotal moment

in popular music history.

And the "Volunteers" song
played at Woodstock

by Jefferson Airplane

has been described as

"One of the great anti-war
protest songs of the '60s."

[Fast piano plays]

Nicky had, by this time,
met up with John Cipollina,

founder member of
Quicksilver Messenger Service.

John and David Freiberg from
Quicksilver came up to see me,

and they said that, uh,
they were short one guy

because Gary Duncan had left,

and it was just those two
and Greg Elmore.

Um, so they needed a fourth
for the album.

I said, would I stay on?

Like many of
the San Francisco groups,

Quicksilver Messenger Service
with John Cipollina, was...

a little bit more freewheeling
than, uh, groups in the UK.

They went off
on tangents sometimes,

and Nicky, being
an improvisational piano player,

loved that.

He loved doing things
off the cuff.

John and Nicky
realized very soon

that they had
very much in common.

And ended up staying
at his house.

And, uh, they became
extremely close.

Nicky recorded "Shady Grove"
with, uh, Quicksilver

when Quicksilver had kind of
changed slightly.

More than anything,
I just enjoyed...

having John as a friend
more than anything.

BOB: Nicky hadn't
just found a friend.

He was welcomed
and truly embraced

by John Cipollina's
wider family.

They loved him because they get,
it was a musical family.

John's mother, Evelyn,
had been a concert pianist.

She was a protégé
of José Iturbi,

and she was a piano teacher
for decades.

And, um, like minds attracted,
and, and you know,

Nicky could go up there
and just sit and play piano and,

and he fit, he fit right in
with what was a musical,

a totally musical family.

He was one of the family.

[Rock music plays live]

I know John knew Terry
from before.

And at some point when,

when Quicksilver
was kind of winding down,

John and Terry
started doing things together.

And by that time, Nicky was,
like I said, one of the family.

I remember Nicky
inviting me down

to play bass on a track
called "Rainbow"

he was producing
in San Francisco

for a Terry Dolan album
for Warner Brothers.

Uh, Nicky produced
side one of the project,

but he had to go off
on a long Stones tour.

They asked me, Terry and Nicky
asked me to produce side two.

I like working with Terry.

I found that to be
a real fun gig to do.

And we do, I actually did
quite a few gigs.

I'd just fly up there for the
weekend, do a gig with Terry,

and come back again.

We used to do that
umpteen times.

And with Terry and the Pirates,
they were together so long.

Nicky played many, many sessions
through the years with Terry.

And Terry had many,
many musicians.

BOB: Often described as
a Marin County's Boy Club

of Professional Players
led by Terry Dolan,

Terry and the Pirates had become
a kind of revolving door

for musicians
who were between jobs.

[Rock music continues]

Then we did the,
the gig in Hamburg,

which was a television show,
and then slept about six hours.

And then the next morning
came back to the States.

I couldn't believe it.
It's like we were in Europe

for about three days
and did three gigs...

in three different cities
hundreds of miles apart.

It was nuts.

But I know that Nicky
enjoyed playing with

both Quicksilver
and Terry Dolan,

and there were
a couple other groups

that he played with
in San Francisco

that were essentially anchors
for him to, uh,

give him reason to stay
in his home in Mill Valley.

[Music fades]

[Upbeat fast piano plays]

It was great to come to
somewhere like the Bay Area

and find some people
who weren't into all this being,

all this self-important crap.

And one could just be oneself.
I thought it was great.

Kindred spirits and all that.

BOB: Gerry Garcia
was best known as guitarist

with the Grateful Dead,

who were part of
the counterculture of the 1960s.

Nicky was
a rock and roll player,

and I mean, aside from
everything else he could do,

he could play rock and roll
piano like, like nobody else.

I think his major God

was Jerry Lee Lewis
more than Chopin.

And, um, he brought that
rock and roll sensibility,

which Gerry loved.

And, uh, it was just,
it was something different.

Gerry was always looking
for something different,

whether it was his bluegrass
band or his Jerry Garcia band,

or the Sanders-Garcia Band.

And he was just looking
for something different.

And Nicky was, was there.

[Music fades]

[Slower piano music plays]

BOB: In 1976,

when Starsky & Hutch
was a huge television hit,

David Soul recorded an album
entitled David Soul.

I don't know David Soul.

I know what he did with
Starsky and Hutch ,

and I know that David Soul
did his own solo album,

which actually
was pretty popular.

And Nicky played on that.

Nicky Hopkins playing
on David Soul's album.

This is something I didn't know
about, this is a revelation.

And I find the thought
incredibly entertaining.

It's so funny that a guy who
would be, like, a famous actor,

well, "I want to be a rock star"
or whatever, you know.

David Soul wanted
to have more exposure,

and music was one way to do it.

He was a guitar player,
from what I understand,

and he had a, a good voice
and he, um, wanted to use it.

I don't know that
he and David Soul

had any kind of relationship.

I don't know if Nicky
had any relationship

with David Soul's producer,
or where that came from,

but he was just the gold-star
session piano player.

[Music fades]

[Sings]: ♪ Tell me
how do you sleep at night? ♪

[Melodic rock music plays]

Hit it.

♪ Jump when your momma
tell you anything ♪

So it was really the Beatles
and quickly the Stones

that had melody with the
soul of the old blues guys.

That was like an explosion
and a revelation,

an emotional revelation that,
that was like a possession.

I fell in love
with rock and roll

through the Beatles and Stones.

The other side of,
of Nicky was that

he could be quite
delicate as well.

I mean, I wasn't involved
in the Lennon stuff,

but I would imagine
if you listen to actually

what he's actually playing,
it's very delicate.

You just have to pick it out.

BOB: Nicky had crossed paths
with John Lennon

a few times over the years.

It came as no surprise to Nicky
when John invited him

to be a part of the sessions
for his Imagine album.

Looking around,
you know, I saw Klaus.

I already knew obviously
who he was.

And so I was very, uh...
it just added to the, uh,

to the otherworldly feeling

that I had been there in
John Lennon's little studio

with John and Phil.

The track I think that
Nicky liked the most

was "Jealous Guy".

You couldn't go wrong.
It was John and his song

and his singing, and he loved
the song, obviously.

And, and it was,
uh, about, you know,

one of the people
he loves most in the world.

And, you know,
and the whole thing was set up

to just move you, the listener.

People who have heard that song
over the years, you know,

they, they hear it and they,

they feel that that
wonderful little kind of vibe.

And Nicky Hopkins, to me,
was a huge part of that.

Nicky's sound
on the piano was like

that of an English garden to me.

So, for example,
in Nicky's music,

I would say something like
"Jealous Guy" and "Angie",

would be good examples of where
he will repeat little patterns.

And it's quite subliminal,
I think, for the listener.

I could feel John responding,
um, to our playing.

And I love that.
I've always loved that.

When you're in the studio
and you're making a record,

you, you can't help
but feel everybody's vibe.

Nicky had such respect for John
and his abilities, you know.

And, um, I know that he enjoyed
working on the Imagine album.

BOB: There's been
a lot of speculation

that John played
the piano on Imagine

and not Nicky;

Moira Hopkins sees it
as making perfect sense.

MOIRA: You know, that
was such a big song

that John should be playing the
piano for that particular song,

because it was like the name
of the album as well, wasn't it?

It was very important.

So I'm on piano on most of
the rest of that album,

which was great.

And, uh, of course, John
was such a unique character.

I found that John was
very into him being,

just being himself anyway,
and getting things done.

John was brilliant because

he could get things done
very quickly,

which was why,
'cause I asked him once,

why move to New York?

He said, because it's the only
place that can keep up with him.

I thought, yeah, okay,
well that makes sense.

[Music fades]

BOB: Nicky was well-liked
by all of the ex-Beatles.

And Paul McCartney
was no exception.

So I used to drive him places,
you know,

and, um, so I, he said,
uh, oh, well, he said, um,

"Paul wants me to go down
to Winchelsea."

"He wants me to come down
to the studio."

So I, I drove him down and, um,
you know, went in with him.

And, uh, when Paul, uh,
saw that Nicky had arrived,

he came up and hugged him.

And over his shoulder,
he said to me, oh, he said,

"It's been so long
since I've seen him."

He's a, and he was so very happy
to see him, you know.

BOB: Despite Paul McCartney's
admiration for him,

Nicky was asked to audition
for Paul's Wings.

He'd known Paul
for over 20 years.

He didn't join Wings.

I actually have no proof of it,
but I think that

because, uh, you know,

Linda was, was playing, that...

maybe she didn't feel
so comfortable

with Nicky being there on the,
you know, on piano.

BOB: In 1989, Paul invited Nicky
to play on his album

Flowers In The Dirt,
almost 18 years on

from playing on
the Imagine album in 1971,

Nicky achieved
his second Grand Slam.

He'd now played on the solo
albums of all four Beatles.

[Guitar plays]

First of all,
the thing you want to do,

if you're a person
that plays on records,

the thing you pray for is that

it's a great song
to be able to play on.

BOB: Different
from the production

of his previous albums,

George Harrison carefully chose
a small core of musicians

to support him.

He included Nicky Hopkins.

But George, when I heard
that little song,

"Give Me Love",

it just did the same thing,
only in a little bit

of a different way than
John's "Jealous Guy" did.

It was, it just, you just knew
exactly what to play.

And with, with Nicky
playing those chords,

the way he would play
those chords,

and with the touch
that he played them,

it wasn't anything
you could do wrong.

You couldn't go wrong.

He had this invaluable
ability to realize

where to start playing
in the song.

You don't have to play
from the top.

And where to play
in relation to the melody

and just what
can break your heart

with a few notes up high.

You know, those guys had him on
their records for that reason,

because he could elevate,
uh, a song

to a place that it might not
have gotten to.

Nicky would come up
with these little vignettes

that were so memorable,
you know,

you would hear it and you'd say,
wow, that, that makes that song,

BOB: That creativity,
that ability

to come up with vignettes

effortlessly added to
and made songs better.

Something another
ex-Beatle understood.

I'm choosing "Photograph"
from Ringo Star, because...

Yes, because, no, it's,
it's a beautiful song.

It's certainly one of
the more obscure ones.

Nice simple pop song,
the essence of that song, again,

you'd have to point to Nicky.

I would have to, anyway.

[Upbeat piano plays]

[Fades to "Photograph"
by Ringo Starr]

The arrangement
was great overall,

everything about all
the playing and everything,

but Nicky's touch, you know,
it's just another example

of having Nicky Hopkins
and a Beatle together,

and I'm in the room with 'em.

That's just a great, great...

It doesn't get any better
than that for me, personally.

[Music fades]

[Low piano plays]

So I have two favorite
Nicky Hopkins tracks.

The first one is called
"A Dreamer" off the album

The Tin Man was a Dreamer ,
and man,

his piano playing
and the way he's playing

feels next to the orchestra
is absolutely exquisite.

BOB: Nicky was working
with George Harrison

during the week,
and at weekends,

he recorded his own solo album
The Tin Man was a Dreamer ,

helped, of course, by some of
his mates, including George.

Every piano player that
I've known since those days,

and I've talked about Nicky,
they, they all bow,

uh, you know, he just was one
of those unusual beauties

that comes around
once in a while.

I didn't know it at the time.
Why was he called the Tin Man?

He collected tea tins,
English tea tins, you know,

'cause some of the artwork
on these things,

especially when you...
was pretty incredible.

Also on The Tim Man
was a Dreamer is this,

is this version

of his, uh, of his song "Edward
the Mad Shirt Grinder".

[Plays dramatic piano]

[Piano fades]

The '70s were his most
successful period in his life.

He was, um, commuting
across the Atlantic

to play with the Stones
and, um, with John Lennon

and countless sessions
in Los Angeles.

BOB: Nicky had returned
to London

to be part of the
Rolling Stones' latest album,

Let It Bleed.
Bill Wyman picks up the story.

Yeah, we all arrived
at the studio,

and Ry Cooder came and hung out,
and Keith didn't like that.

So Keith went home,
I think, and it just,

it was just, just us, wasn't it?

And, uh, we didn't know
what to do, so we just,

Nicky just started jamming.

Then we just sort of jammed
and fooled around, didn't we?

And Mick just threw in
bits and pieces.

- It was completely spontaneous.
- And it was just alive.

And I realized that something
unusual could happen.

So I started running the tape.

It was a very stoned thought,
was the title.

Um, I had become Edward
on some Stones sessions, um,

because Keith,
it was at Olympic,

which was a huge area,
huge floor area.

Keith was tuning his guitars up,
and he was yelling at me

because the,
the headphones weren't working.

And so it was hard to hear.
And he said,

"Nicky, gimme an E."
I said, what?

He said, "Gimme an E."
I said, "Can't hear you."

"Gimme an E for Edward."
So I became Edward.

[Rock music plays]

The first time
I met Nicky Hopkins,

I believe was on the sessions
for, uh, Harry Nilsson,

for the Son of Schmilsson
record.

BOB: Son of Schmilsson was
an eclectic mixture of styles.

It accentuated
Nilsson's reputation

for producing anarchic
and eccentric work.

That was, uh, that's a good way
to describe Harry Nilsson.

He was an anarchist,
to some degree.

Uh, but, you know,
"You're Breakin' My Heart",

that's typical Harry Nilsson.

Fun, and, uh, speaking his mind
and, uh, you know,

little dirty words here
once in a while.

It's not really
a dirty word anymore, is it?

I mean, Nilsson is not only
a great singer and composer,

but he's an excellent pianist.

And he played
on several tracks by Nilsson.

I think it was probably
during that time in LA

when there was
a lot of partying going on,

like the Hollywood Vampires
and John Lennon

and Keith Moon
going a bit nuts in the studio.

And I imagine Nicky
was part of that party,

and maybe that night,
Nilsson was too drunk.

So he said, you play the piano.

BOB: Harry Nilsson
thoroughly enjoyed

and appreciated
what Nicky brought

to the recording sessions.

The end result? Nicky played
on nine out of the 11 tracks.

[Music fades]

He was a white man from
Sheffield, uh, England, right?

And, but he sounded like
a Black man

that had maybe been born
in Mississippi.

And he was just extraordinary,
Joe, just incredible.

BOB: Nicky's friendship
with Joe Cocker

was, from the outset, unlikely.

The wild party man
from Sheffield

and the quiet
retiring piano player.

It's not so much
Nicky Hopkins' intro

to, um, "You Are So Beautiful",
which is, um, genius.

But it's his touch in general.
Um, his sense of melody.

But he, I didn't even think
his fingers were moving.

He had such a beautiful touch.

There's "You Are So Beautiful",

and there's
"Bridge Over Troubled Water",

Larry Knechtel on piano, and I,
I put them on the same level.

It's a song that Nicky
was particularly proud of.

Um, and you can see why,
it's a beautiful piano part.

It has different textures in,
he varies which register he's in

to bring different weight
into different sections.

Uh, and it really sort of
shows the,

the kind of sensitivity
and vulnerability of the lyrics.

But Nicky's playing on
"You Are So Beautiful" is just,

I mean, I get goosebumps
when I listen to it every time.

You know, to this day,
it's one of the most beautiful

backing tracks for any person.

And of course,
it was Joe Cocker.

BOB: In 1976, Joe, who'd been
struggling with debts,

agreed on a tour of New Zealand,
Australia, and South America.

They got along really well.

I think when Joe decided to go
back out on the road again,

he wanted Nicky
and Bobby Keyes with him.

And, uh, they had
all sorts of adventures.

This was before Nicky
actually went to rehab.

[Music fades]

[Piano plays]

There's a track on the Airwaves
album called "The Dreamer",

and that's probably
the outstanding piano track.

Uh, at one point, the song
reverts back to the intro,

which is just acoustic guitar

and little sprinkles
of piano on,

and then me playing guitar
with the volume knob.

I listen to it to this day,
and it's just tears.

BOB: Badfinger
originated from the UK,

but had morphed into
a West Coast band.

Joe tells us about recording
their album Airwaves.

So, uh, we discussed
Nicky and Joe

and Tom had run into 'em
at Abbey Road,

or working with the Beatles
a few times.

And, uh, the name came up
and me, I went, "twist my arm".

It was a dream come true.
Having him play piano.

Uh, I don't know what it
is about English guys.

They don't drive.
None of 'em drove at the time.

They were like, "We don't drive.
We get driven around."

Okay.
"Go pick Nicky up."

He's living in, uh, Canoga Park.

I get the address
and bring him to rehearsal.

Showed up at the front door
and knock on the door.

Guy's standing there
in his underwear,

got messing around with his eyes
and his hair's all messed up,

and there's Joe Cocker
opening the front door.

And he looked like John Belushi
imitating Joe Cocker.

Apparently they'd been up having
too much fun the night before,

and they were sharing a place
together at the time.

That was the first time
I'd ever met Nicky.

[Music fades]

I'll tell you what impressed me
about Nicky the most was

after working with the Rumour,

who it was a bit painstaking
getting them to learn my songs,

and they generally
deconstructed them

and tried to do something else
with them

before coming back to the song.

But Nicky, um,
he'd listened to the song once

and play through with a,
you know, a take.

We'd do a take
with Nicky playing.

He'd play through it once,
and that was all.

I didn't have to tell him
anything after that.

He'd learned it.

Well, bands couldn't live
in the studios forever.

They were expected to go out

and entertain all the people
that bought their albums.

And, uh, it was the biggest
money spinner, really.

It was to go on a major epic
tour of Europe or America,

or even to Japan.

[Crowd applauds]

BOB: Graham Parker
and The Rumour

had a big following
in Germany.

When they were invited to play
one of the Rock Palace concerts,

Nicky decided to accompany
his friend.

[Sings]: ♪ All sensation

♪ So get them, get them

♪ But don't get me

♪ Can't hear, your cries

♪ So don't get me to fill up
your empty lives

♪ Your empty lives

♪ Your empty lives

♪ Your empty lives ♪

[Music fades]

[Solemn piano plays]

BOB: For Nicky, whose health was
fragile at the best of times,

the Rolling Stones' 50-show
schedule was grueling

to the point that it had become
a dangerous factor.

There was a lot of downtime
doing nothing.

You know, to be honest,
they had their,

their bit on stage was fantastic
for that two hours.

It was fantastic,

and they wanted to carry
that on, really, afterwards.

Crohn's can be very challenging,

especially when you're on a long
tour and you're not eating well.

He physically wasn't very well,

but, you know, he had a lot of
problems all through his life

with his, uh, health.

And so he was ill a lot.

So when I first came into
the position with the Stones

and Stu and I became good
friends, I asked him, I said,

Stu, look, I'm real happy to be
here, don't get me wrong,

but where's Nicky?

Why isn't Nick Hopkins here?

And they said, with Nicky,
bless his heart,

he always had health problems.

And so the band was scared
that'd be on tour,

and that, you know,
a major date coming up,

and he'd have
some kind of attack

and couldn't make the show.

[Music fades]

Like many of us back in the day,

uh, Nicky did have a bit of
a drinking problem, I guess.

Mostly a problem
because of his ill health

and frail constitution.

I know that Nicky took drugs.

He was, uh, in pain, and
he took to drugs for his pain.

I doubt that he was an addict,

in the classical sense.

The medical profession
defines an addict

as someone who has a disruption
in their psychosocial,

um, functioning.

And Nicky had none of those.

With me, however,
it grew so out of control.

I mean, I was doing
pretty much every drug,

every existing drug to the max
and then beyond.

He had about a 10 year bout,
more or less,

with drugs and alcohol.

He was the wrong person
to be living that lifestyle.

He wasn't strong enough for it,
and he got...

It took him to a very, very
bad place eventually.

I mean, he would,
he would talk to me about it.

He would talk to me about
the stupid things that he did.

And, um, you know,

and of course he'd,
he'd suffered physically

for a number of years with,
I think it was Crohn's disease.

So I think the combination
of Crohn's disease

and the other excesses
of being on the road

at that particular period, um,
weren't helpful to him.

I was working with Chick Corea,

and I got a call from
Artist Relations at Moog,

a friend of mine,
Robbie Konikoff,

and he said, "Rory,
I have a favor of you."

I said, what's that? He goes,
"Do you know Nicky Hopkins?"

And I, I went,
yeah, of course I do.

And I lit up because I was like,
where's this going?

I get to meet him, you know?

And he said, "Well,
he really wants to meet Chick.

Can you set that up?"
And I said, of course. You know.

So I asked Chick, I said,
Chick, I know we're rehearsing,

but Nicky Hopkins is in town

and would really like to
meet you.

Can we make this happen?

He goes, "Absolutely,
and bring him in."

So Chick comes out
very cordial and happy,

and, you know, he's rehearsing,
this is going great.

Nicky said, "Chick,
what a pleasure to meet you."

And puts his hand out,
shakes his hand.

He goes, "How are you doing?"

And Chick said,
"Great man, great."

He goes, "How are you doing?"

And it got really quiet

and Nicky looks at Chick
and said, "Not so good."

Chick goes,
"Well, what's wrong?"

Goes, "Uh, doctor told me
I have two weeks to live

unless I quit heroin."

And Chick said,
"I'm gonna get you into rehab."

And Chick called a few phone
numbers, got him into rehab,

and that probably saved his life
at that moment.

I went in pretty negatively.
I didn't think it would work,

I didn't think anything
could work.

I thought, well,
it's the only thing I know.

It's like a last ditch effort.

And much to my surprise,
it did work.

I mean, which amazed me.

[Electric guitar plays]

I first met Nicky Hopkins
in 1985,

and it was for a session
when I,

The Stray Cats
were taking a break,

and we all made solo records.

And Lee Rocker and myself
teamed up with Earl Slick.

And like I said, Earl Slick
knew Nicky from the past.

We were
at the point of the record

where we needed the piano,
Slick called Nicky.

Nicky came to Capital Studios.

He had a rock and roll style,

but very melodic and
a soft touch without tinkling.

He had a great technique
and a good pounding of the keys,

but in a melodic way.

Very, um, unusual combination
that's wanted by everybody.

So he wound up playing
on three tracks.

There was one track called, uh,
"No Regrets" that he played on.

There was another track
called "Lonely Actions"

that was almost like a ballad,

but not quite, a little bit
of a rock beat to it.

And then he played on one called
"Time Is On My Hands",

which is a, which is a
straight-up blues in appearance.

But the chord changes
are a little bit different.

It's a little, not quite as,
uh, trad blues.

And Nicky played
beautifully on it.

[Music fades]

[Upbeat piano plays]

This tribute was planned.

And then, you know, it was only
about four weeks after,

after John died that the tribute
happened at the Fillmore.

Uh, oh, bloody hell.
I, I really should be there.

Nicky, uh, heard about
John's passing

and the tribute
and was actually on tour

with Art Garfunkel in Australia.

And he got on a plane
and made sure

he was at the Fillmore

to, to memorialize
John's legacy there.

[Upbeat music plays]

BOB: And when John passed away,
he'd not only lost

a very close friend,
he'd lost a kindred spirit.

It seemed fitting that Nicky
would reunite with

Terry and the Pirates
to say farewell to John.

[Music and piano continue]

[Music fades to rock song]

There was one song called
"Don't Touch Me".

Uh, I had this kind of little
modal guitar intro

and this cool beat,

and it was,
it's just a classic Nicky thing

'cause I play a lick
and there's a hole,

play a lick
and there's a hole, play...

There's about four or five of
those before I started singing.

And right off the bat, I played
this very kind of classic,

um, I, this is a bad word,
it's not classical,

but it was a little demented.

It was off the rock path,
and instantly in the hole,

Nicky started doing
demented answering,

and it was just
completely natural,

like when we were jamming.

So Nicky was mostly on piano
all the time.

And, uh, as we went
from song to song,

Jeffrey and I would, uh,
arrange the songs

and be pretty together with

here's the arrangement,
here's the chord.

So right off the bat,
especially with Nicky,

when we started recording,
he was already, uh,

with no real direction from us
other than: "Be Nicky Hopkins".

He was already orchestrating
the music.

You know, he would do
these octave themes

and just naturally,
he would pull back

when the singing was happening.

When the singing stopped,
he'd lean into it.

But it was always very thematic
and cinematic, in a way.

And it was just, you know,
beautiful, you know,

session work, improv by Nicky.

[Music fades]

He had a famously difficult
girlfriend-wife,

his first wife Dolly,

who was very ambitious
for Nicky to be a rock star.

And probably prompted him
into a solo career,

which was not his strength.

He wasn't a front man,
he was a side man.

He was a brilliant side man,
but not a front man.

I think his wife, Dolly,

was handling most of
his business at the time.

Dolly was combination, wife,
lover, babysitter, um,

mother, all of the above.

For about three years,
everything was fine.

They got along fine.

And, um, you know,
they had fun together.

But, um, I think, uh,
something changed.

He said it was a challenging
relationship, really.

But he didn't want
to disparage her at all.

He was very gentlemanly
like that.

And, you know, it was grey.
It was faults on both sides.

They grew apart because...

well, Nicky had gone to rehab

and I believe Dolly did too,
but she didn't stick with it.

So quite honestly, she,
she was still drinking,

whereas he had stopped, you
know, but that's very difficult.

Like, if, you know,
you've just gone through rehab

and then there's somebody
living in the same household,

you know,
who is drinking every day.

It's, it's difficult.

I, yeah, when I first met,
uh, Moira with Nicky,

I thought, whoa, he's landed
on his feet with this lady.

It was instantly,
uh, the way

I'd like to see my friend
with somebody like that.

It's, it was a very nice thing.

Somebody took me up
to meet Nicky

and I was introduced to him,

and he shook my hand.

And, um, you know, uh,
I can't remember what we said,

but he was so kind and so nice
that I walked away

and I said to my friend,
I said, "Wow."

I said, I wish I could marry
somebody like Nicky Hopkins,

[She laughs]

'cause he's so nice.

You know, he was just,
just a wonderful human being.

And it,
it kind of shone through.

You know, Nicky liked Art,
and Art liked Nicky,

and he loved his work.

Nicky called me and he said,

"I'm doing this show
with Art Garfunkel

on the Tonight Show
with Johnny Carson,

and we need strings.

Will you play the strings
for us?"

I started playing these great
orchestral string sounds,

and Art was like,

"What I'm looking for is
a snowbird walking on snow.

Real thin, simple. Boom."

I'm watching Nicky
play the intro,

and he just does this simple,
beautiful... wasn't simple.

He makes it look simple.

This beautiful intro
to this song.

Art comes in, and even
as a musician, you well up,

you get the chills,
the hair goes up,

and you're like,
this is magic.

[Sings]: ♪ Here I am

♪ Alone on the plain

♪ Sun's going down

♪ It's starting to rain

♪ Papa, we'll go sailing ♪

[Music fades]

When Art, uh,
played the Albert Hall,

and, uh, Nicky was, you know,
not only playing the piano,

he was also his music director.

Art took a, a break,
you know, um, for his voice,

like, just for about
5 or 10 minutes,

and he introduced Nicky
as the legendary Nicky Hopkins

playing his own composition.

And, uh, it was a piece
that Nicky wrote

when he came back to Britain.

He was so happy to be home that

he wrote this piece of music
called "The Homecoming",

and he played it
at the Royal Albert Hall.

And that was very nice of Art
to allow him to do that.

[Soft piano plays]

JIM: Nicky Hopkins was
the kind of piano player

that you needed

if you were gonna play
with Art Garfunkel.

Artie knew that.

And, uh, to his credit,
you know,

they made
some great music together.

[Soft piano plays]

I met Nicky in February, 1987
through Gray Levett,

who was representing Nicky
at the time.

Woody Woodmansey
had introduced me to Gray

because I left
Dexys Midnight Runners

and I was forging
a new career, um,

and writing
an instrumental album.

And when I met Gray, he said,

"Nick is doing a similar project
writing instrumental music."

So he said, "Why don't
you two get together?"

And the thought of playing
with Nicky was, um,

a dream come true, really,
I suppose.

And that was the start of
a musical relationship

and our friendship.

He loved being back in,
uh, England.

He'd moved from America,

and I came over from America
and joined him.

And then we got married
at, um, Hever Castle.

It was at Hever Castle.

The special guest of honor
was Art Garfunkel,

and his, uh, his wife.

It was a great day.
It was a sunny day.

We had, you know, um,
someone playing the bagpipes,

dressed up in
the Highland attire.

We had to go back to America,

because he was missing
a lot of work.

You know, Joe Cocker
had been looking for him,

wanted to come play
on an album.

And, um, someone else,
I can't think who it was now,

but, um, so we wound up,
we, we went back to LA.

[Music fades]

[Rock music plays]

You know, we had, I think,
met with Nicky,

uh, when we were getting,

when we were looking for people
to be in the band.

I think we met with him just to
have the thrill of meeting Nicky

because he was,
I think he was busy at the time.

And so we just thought, well,
let's, let's have a meeting.

We weren't jerking him off
or anything.

We just wanted to say,
we're doing this

and you're doing that,
and how great.

But he was working.

I think he would've been
too good for us,

you know,
what we were trying to do.

We weren't trying
to do bad music,

but I mean,
Nicky was a virtuoso.

I think we would've had trouble
making that funny.

And then when,
when "Rainy Day Sun" came up,

we just thought, that's the guy.

We're not asking him to be in
something for 28 days.

We're asking him to come
to a session.

And, uh, we got it.
We got it together.

MOIRA: Well, when Nicky did
the recording with Spinal Tap,

I took him down to the studio

and he was asking
Christopher Guest

if he didn't, like, model his
part in Spinal Tap on Jeff Beck.

He said, go on, just tell me.

He goes, you were Jeff Beck,
weren't you?

[She laughs]

And he wouldn't tell him.
He wouldn't admit to it.

You know, part of the thrill
of doing that project was,

uh, either in the making
or later getting to meet people

that we really just
thought the world of.

And, uh, Nicky was absolutely
one of them.

[Music fades]

[Jazz song plays]

Back in '92, Nicky and I
played piano together

on a, a zero album,

uh, Chance in a Million
being recorded live

and, uh, at Great American
Music Hall in San Francisco.

And we just went nuts
and started trading licks

back and forth
in the, uh, piano solo.

When I grew up listening to
so many different kinds of music

that I like a lot of
different kinds of music,

and I've learned to play them
over the years too.

I mean,
I've become quite involved in,

in many different kinds
and different forms of music.

So I don't feel that it's
necessarily being a dilettante

with all, with any particular
form of music.

I think I've gotten to know
many kinds of music quite well,

or very well.

BOB: The spring of 1993 found
Nicky in an upbeat mood.

Plans had been formed
to begin recording

with Frankie Miller
and Joe Walsh.

There were discussions regarding
a tour with Harry Nilsson,

and he had his own
ongoing film projects.

And everything was actually fine
for about two or three years.

He didn't complain
of any, um, upsets.

And then sadly, um,
'93 wasn't a good year,

because he had a sudden eruption
that, um, put him in hospital.

And he was saying
that he was going in

and out of the hospital.

His Crohn's disease
was kicking in,

and they were just taking more
intestine out and doing that.

Even today,
most people after, say,

10 years of having
Crohn's disease

has had
some form of surgery.

But back in Nicky's day,
it probably was the main

form of treatment in the end,
because there were so few drugs.

He had to have one organ
or another removed.

I thought it was his kidney,
but maybe it was something else.

BOB: Moira received
many messages from friends

for Nicky's recovery,

including an unexpected one
from an ex-Beetle.

Paul happened to be in LA
when, uh,

Nicky was ill in hospital, and
he made a point of calling up

and, uh, saying to me, "Please
give all the best to Nicky

and tell him, you know,
I hope that he gets well soon,

and that, you know,
I'm thinking of him."

And that was really wonderful.

[Music fades]

We were living just up the road
from Joe Walsh in Encino

in, uh, Los Angeles.

So Nicky and Joe got together
with Terry Reid,

and they put this band together
called the Flu.

That's Joe's idea: "What are
we gonna call it? The Flu?"

I'm going, oh God, here we go.

BOB: Joe was in negotiations
for the reforming of the Eagles,

but it didn't stop these
three friends having some fun.

When you're doing gigs
as a band,

you know yourself as playing,
you know, when you're playing,

you remember those gigs.

INTERVIEWER:
That's quite a lineup, Terry.

Oh, it's a hell of a, oh, no,
oh, the rehearsals!

INTERVIEWER: I 'd like
to be a fly on the wall.

Oh, God, I felt like we were
flies on the wall.

Now when,
when you're doing rehearsals,

you never knew
what was gonna happen.

I mean, with Joe, everything,
every, I dunno, I love Joe.

He is the funniest guy I think
I've ever met in music.

They had a great concert,
and he was hoping to do more.

And actually, um,
Nicky did do more with Joe

and a Scottish singer
called Frankie Miller.

They recorded about four
or five pieces of music

in this little recording studio
in, uh, Georgia.

BOB:
1994 began badly for Nicky.

The Northridge earthquake
occurred in the early hours

in the San Fernando Valley
region of Los Angeles.

The northern half, which is the,
posher half is built on rock,

and rock communicates these
vibrations very thoroughly.

It's a good conductor.

So if you lived in the northern
half of Santa Monica,

your house did like that,

and the southern half of
Santa Monica is built on sand,

which doesn't conduct it
nearly as well.

All of a sudden,
the entire room started going

four feet in each direction.

The earth was like,
for a lack of a better word,

screaming and moaning

like these giant sounds
of, like, the earth grinding.

It was the strangest earthquake
because not only was it like,

you had to be walking
uphill almost

that the earth was, I mean,
it was moving in chunks,

and also it was going
from side to side as well.

The whole city's been decimated.

Power's out everywhere
and days of, you know,

reconstruction, if you will,
putting your life back together.

We could see fires starting up.

I mean, it was really scary.

And it was like being
on board ship all that night.

The aftershocks
just kept rolling through.

He had enough,
he said, "No, that's it.

I can't do this anymore."

And, uh, and he picked up
and, uh, moved to, to Nashville.

[Slow piano plays]

I'm sure that, um,

Nicky moving to Nashville
was the best thing for him.

It definitely was
the best thing for me.

There were people in Nashville
that were excited

that Nicky Hopkins
had moved to town.

I think we got there about,
um, in March of, um, '94.

BOB: Just as they were settling
into life in Nashville,

Nicky started to feel unwell.

He asked me
to take him to a chiropractor

because he had lower back pain,

and he never had
lower back pain.

And, and, um, he said that
the chiropractor said,

"I think that perhaps you might
want to make an appointment

to see your doctor"

because, uh, he suspected
something was wrong.

BOB: Two days later,
Nicky and Moira

celebrated Labor Day together.

I was feeling tired. I said,
I'm going to go up to bed.

And, uh, he said, "Well,

I'm just gonna stay down
for a little while.

I'm, you know..."
and, uh, so I went up to bed

and it was about,
I guess I, I don't know,

I'd fallen asleep, but I,
I heard him yell out,

and I went running downstairs,
and he was in excruciating pain.

And, um, I called, uh,
an ambulance.

I got him to the hospital,

and they wouldn't give him
anything to kill the pain.

They said they had to wait
for his doctor to arrive,

and he took his time.

And so, it was too late.

You know, Nicky couldn't
take it. His heart gave out.

I just thought I was so lucky,
you know,

um, to have the marriage I had.

I had a very,
very happy marriage.

And I shared my life
with a wonderful,

wonderful person, you know.

[Nostalgic music plays]

Being, you know, a young guy

at the top of his game
also battling this, you know,

chronic illness that
no one knows anything about.

And it's invisible, it's that
people don't really understand.

And I think that is, you know,
it's kind of heartbreaking

that, you know, he probably
should be still alive right now.

It's important
to remember people

who made music popular

and, uh, long lived
with their prowess

on an instrument
that really does take, uh,

some work
and some major talent to master.

And he, he certainly
was a master of it.

I think everyone remembers him
really fondly, and always have.

And, you know,
I miss Nicky a lot.

I can't, I can't really explain
just how brilliant he was.

But the reason why
we're sitting here today

is because he was
an astonishing musician.

The like of which
I've never come across since.

And if you are
musically inclined

and he had a piano around,
he could...

he could entrance you.

We became friends so easily.

It's hard not to be
a friend of, of Nicky's.

Nicky was a pure musician,

and his contributions
are purely musical.

And I think that
that deserves remembering.

I was talking to him
about his playing

and, uh, how detailed it was
and how precision he was.

And he says, well,
I'm Chopin.

And I said, "What?"
He said, "Yes,

I'm a reincarnation
of Frederick Chopin."

And I said, "Okay..."

And he did more than believe
that he was Frederick Chopin.

He knew that he was
so positive about that fact

that I just had to believe him.

Nicky did believe, um, that
he was Chopin in another life,

and he used to play, um,
he listened to a lot of Chopin

and he used to, you know,
play on the keyboards,

um, and piano.

If there was a piano around,
he'd play Chopin.

And I think that that
could very well be the case,

because he was just that talent,

talent on that

high spiritual,
uh, classical level.

I think he was.

Reincarnation is to do
with human beings.

So it's quite possible
what Nicky said is, is true.

But I would've thought
that if he was,

if he was Chopin
in his last lifetime,

he'd be a bit sick of
playing the piano.

I think he'd probably try
and be doing something else.

Um, you know.
[Laughs]

BOB: Nicky's musical career
spanned just over 30 years,

and during that time,

he played with some of
the greatest bands in the world.

His contributions
on their records

made him rock and roll's
greatest Session Man.

[Upbeat piano plays]