I've always considered Nicky Hopkins' piano a big part of the vintage Stones sound. In the 80s, I worked at the Art Institute of Atlanta, which at the time had a music management program. Nicky was in town promoting a project of some sort, and agreed to come by the school to be a guest lecturer to the students. Being on the staff, I got to go with him and a group of teachers for a Chinese lunch nearby, and at it was such a nice experience I had to share it with the group.

A sample of some of my questions, and his answers:

Of all the artists you've played for.... if you had a chance to record with any of them tomorrow, who would it be? "Harry Nilsson...we would just laugh and laugh during the entire session."

Who did you NOT get to play piano for that you would have loved to have had the chance? "Bob Dylan."

On his first time playing a Moog synthesizer in the 60s: "Mick rang me up, and I went over to his house. We messed around on the bloody thing for most of the day, and I'm damned it we got one single musical note out of it!"

On a fire in the recording studio during a Stones session: "We had to run out of the studio, and suddenly there were these screaming girls.....hard to decide what to do in that situation, get attacked by girls or run back into a burning building..."

I asked Nicky who he listened to those days, and he said "nobody." That sort of took me by surprise, so I said, "you mean, you don't listen to rock, only jazz," that sort of thing, and he said "no....you don't understand....I don't listen to anything." Nicky sort of saw the surprise on my face, and then said, "Oh...I like some things Phil Collins is doing, and I still enjoy Eric Clapton....but, generally, no, I don't listen to music anymore."

I expressed to him how much I enjoyed his playing on tunes like "Loving Cup," and on tracks by other artists such as "Hey Frederick" on Jefferson Airplane's Volunteers album, and he was appreciate.

My Nicky Hopkins autograph is always something I'll treasure, and I very much mourned his passing. If you look through any of your top 20 classic rock albums from the late 60s to mid 70s, I'll just about bet you'll find him on piano.

Thanks for letting me share, folks.....

Wonderful story. Thanks for posting that.

That is a great story. Nice that he could hear words of appreciation from a true fan when he was out of the limelight.

The day I heard Nicky died, I was really bummed. I poppped in my not-rewound VHS of Rock and Roll Circus and the first shot on the screen was a close-up of Nicky!

I put together a list of great/important songs by various artists that Hopkins had played on, and sent it to the local rock stations in hopes that they would pay him proper tribute.

I don't know where that list is now, but if someone put it together for a tribute CD it would be one amazing album.

Why don't we put a similar list together of Nicky's best?

I'll start:

1. Sympathy for the Devil--Rolling Stones

Very interesting anecdote Mongoose although I admit wishing I hadn't heard the man dug Phil Collins.

2. Revolution - The Beatles

You can listen to 2 concerts on your computer, Nicky Hopkins playing with Jerry Garcia in 1975. Sign up is quick and very easy...PLUS, they have at least 298 other classic you can choose to listen to.

[concerts.wolfgangsvault.com]

Here's an album Nicky played on w/Jerry.


[www.cduniverse.com]

nice story. thanks.

indeed - thanks Mongoose
love & light to Nicky - thanks & praises, love & light

My pleasure! :-)

Hey Bingo! That Wolfgangs Vault is a pretty neat website. Is that stuff downloadable or streaming audio only?

his piano on Shes a Rainbow is so beautiful.

I was 12 years old in 1967 when She's a Rainbow came out on 45, with 2,000 Light Years from Home on the B side. I remember being home with a bad case of tonsilitis, feeling like crap, but listening to those two songs over and over always made me feel better.

Two other great Nicky Hopkins Stones moments are:

Angie (never my favorite Stones song, but he plays so well on that tune)

No Expectations (I love how he keeps moving up to higher octaves, sort of a Floyd Cramer country sound).

I just remember that when he visited the school where I worked, he went out of his way to sign autographs, answer questions, and be nice to people.

Hey, Mongoose, my girlfriend went to the AIA during that same time period. Great school, BTW. We went to a cool, crazy Halloween party at the Fox Theatre. Were U there?

My girlfriend did a "texture" portrait on Mick. It's colored pencils. She added clay lips for the texture. I recommended a picture of KR with a scarf of burlap, but she disagreed. Shoulda ditched her then. I've still got the picture and will post on here if I can figure it all out.

Wish I coulda been at the Nicky thing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-12-10 05:21 by Elmo Lewis.

Duane in Houston Wrote:
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> Hey Bingo! That Wolfgangs Vault is a pretty neat
> website. Is that stuff downloadable or streaming
> audio only?


As far as I know, you can only listen to it....I'm no computer expert, maybe someone with more knowledge might know a program that could download it, if that's possible?

Glad you like the site, I'm just hoping that some Stones shows make it on there, they have a great selection as is.

Yeah, we had Chuck Leavell there as well at an earlier year, also a person who went out of his way to be nice to folks.

Were you there when Rick Derringer came to visit? Very wild sense of humor!

I didn't go to school there, my girlfriend did. Excellent trainging for artists and creative people of all bents. I know Chuck vaguely through some friends (I'm still in Georgia) and think he's super nice guy as far as dealing with pesty fans like me!