Blues De Luxe: What Would Nicky Hopkins Do? (Part 6)

Posted by Lance Davis - September 16, 2018 - Beatles, Billie Davis, Easybeats, Elton John, Giles, Giles & Fripp, Jackie Lomax, Jeff Beck, Kinks, Nicky Hopkins, Paul Jones, Ray Davies, Roger Cook, Rolling Stones, The Who, WWNHD

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The day after Nicky died (September 6, 1994), Ian McLagan and his wife Kim were shopping in Austin and stopped to have a drink in Nicky’s honor. They chose a weirdly appropriate bar, with church pews as benches and coffins for tables, and ordered a round of beers. They were amazed when, without them lifting […]

Mr. Pleasant: What Would Nicky Hopkins Do? (Part 5)

Posted by Lance Davis - July 6, 2018 - Andrew Loog Oldham, Brian Jones, Dave Davies, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Keith Emerson, Keith Richards, Kinks, Mick Jagger, Nicky Hopkins, P.P. Arnold, Ray Davies, Rod Stewart, Rolling Stones, WWNHD, Yardbirds

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“From about ’67 to ’68 it was really machine-like. I didn’t even know whom I was working for half the time. Anthony Newley was at one session, Sammy Davis Jr. was at another, maybe those two were for a movie soundtrack or maybe they were singles. I don’t know. I don’t even know if they […]

The Revolutionary Piano of Nicky Hopkins (WWNHD: Part 4)

Posted by Lance Davis - June 1, 2018 - Brian Jones, David Bowie, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Julian Dawson, Keith Moon, Kinks, Merseybeats, Nicky Hopkins, Pretty Things, Ritchie Blackmore, Rolling Stones, The Creation, WWNHD

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There are people who read music and don’t make things up and people who make things up and don’t read music, so when you put them together it’s a powerful thing. Nicky could play whatever you put in front of him. It’s a rarity to have somebody who could do that as perfectly as all […]

But It Was Blues: What Would Nicky Hopkins Do? (Part 3)

Posted by Lance Davis - May 13, 2018 - Jimmy Page, Julian Dawson, Kinks, Nicky Hopkins, The Who, WWNHD

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In February-March 1965, Jimmy Page was producing a session for a singer named Andy Anderson. Jeff Beck was on guitar, Carlo Little was on drums, and engineering the session was a young upstart named Glyn Johns. On keyboards? Well, that was the problem. The piano player didn’t show up for the gig. So, Carlo […]

Diamond Tiaras: What Would Nicky Hopkins Do? (Part 2)

Posted by Lance Davis - May 5, 2018 - Big Maceo, Chopin, Cyril Davies, Floyd Cramer, Jerry Lee Lewis, Julian Dawson, Nicky Hopkins, WWNHD

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Because my copy of Julian Dawson’s And on Piano …Nicky Hopkins: The Extraordinary Life of Rock’s Greatest Session Man arrived after I posted the first WWNHD, I wanna use this post to catch up to the story, then we’ll jam with Edward. Here’s a few notes from the early bio. Hopkins nearly died multiple […]