One of the most recent captivating music documentaries was The Wrecking Crew, no relation to the Matt Helm film with Dean Martin. It focused on session players in Los Angeles and New York who played on major hit records without credit. Nicky Hopkins, a brilliant piano player or The Session Man as he is referred to, is one of these players, except he received credit.
The film dives deep, sometimes too fast, into the life and career of Nicky Hopkins. Classical trained who thought of himself as the reincarnation of Frederic Chopin played some of the greatest hits of the 20th century, collaborating with The Who, The Rolling Stones, Beatles, the Kinks, Quick Silver Messenger Service, Grateful Dead and many others in the UK, LA, NYC and other Westcoast scenes.
The filmmakers try to take a balanced approach, with talking head comments from musicians like Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Dave Davies, Soundman Glynn Johns, and Harry Shearer of Spinal Tap on Hopkins’s contributions and praise. Hopkins appears in grainy video footage relating personal stories and giving historical context to the fabulous Sixties music scene in the UK.
Starting from Nicky Hopkins’ birth in 1944 in a suburb of London, emerging at a time when music was moving away from trad-jazz morphing into Skiffle, later Rock and Roll and Blues with the likes of Alexis Korner. Hopkins initially began piano lessons at the age of three and later attended the Royal Academy of Music in London. The film follows Hopkins’s exploding career and demands with his work with many of what turned out to be Rock music royalty. He was a different session guy without ego, one who could sweeten and elevate a tune with nuances, tweaks, and little textures on the piano that are aptly demonstrated in the film.
There is a dark side to music, and there always seems to be when genius is around, including illuminations of early diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, which plagued Hopkins for the rest of his life, plus addictions to drink and drugs to kill the pain, resulting in rehab.
“…collaborating with The Who, The Rolling Stones, Beatles, the Kinks…”
Hopkins was so in demand that, as he notes in the film, “Each record album we did was done, and then what’s the next one going to be like? And we’d get on and do the next one.” Hopkins jumped back across to England to work with John Lennon on his 1971 album Imagine, plus other former Beatles records by George Harrison and Ringo Starr along with Terry Dolan and the Pirates, Jerry Garcia, Joe Cocker, and many others.
Other revelations include Paul McCartney asking Hopkins, whom he had known for over twenty years if he would audition for his new group Wings. Hopkins, at the height of his fame, auditioned only to lose to Paul’s wife, Linda. One wonders if a little favouritism was in play plus intimidation of Hopkins’s massive talent, much the same as the fate of drummer Pete Best. Best was kicked out of the Beatles in favor of Ringo when Best was thought to be more good-looking with his quiff and smouldering expression for the girls than Paul. Pete Best, to this day, was never told why he was dumped.
Tragedy did strike in 1993, and Hopkins’ frail system was beginning to slow down. After surgery, a hospital stay in Los Angeles, plus a move to Nashville for short-lived peace and to get away from Earthquakes, the Nashville music community became excited over the News of his being in town. Hopkins began to feel unwell come autumn. His second wife Moira rushed him to the hospital after a bout of excruciating pain, and it was on September 6 that Hopkins died at the age of 50, succumbing to Crohn’s disease.
The Session Man attempts to cover a lot of material, some of which is done abruptly and deserves more scrutiny. The film has the look of an ‘unofficial’ documentary as some of the clips look like public Domain material, and some artists like Pete Townsend appear only in voice clips and stills. Full music tracks are never heard, only in the background. Does it detract? Not for one moment as you get a wonderful story that perhaps you didn’t know when listening to music.
"…He was a different session guy without ego, one who could sweeten and elevate a tune..."
