“Too Good For Us” (Exclusive)

Spinal Tap’s Harry Shearer reveals in the documentary The Session Man that the fictional heavy metal band courted esteemed sideman Nicky Hopkins.

From Fat Dominoes and Jerry Lee Lewis to Billy Preston, Elton John and Billy Joelpianists made an incredible contribution to the history of rock and roll. But as mainstream pianos of the genre go, one MVP in particular tends to get overlooked.

This will all change TheMan of the sessionA 90-minute documentary about legendary pianist Nicky Hopkins, premiering November 5 on Amazon Prime. If you haven’t heard of Hopkins, you’re not alone. But you definitely are heard its.

Once one of the most in-demand session men in the business, Hopkins, who died in 1994 at age 50, played piano on such classics as “She’s a Rainbow,” “Sympathy of Devil,” “Gimme Shelter” and “Angie”. ” from The Rolling Stones“Matthew and Son” by Cat Stevens, “You’re So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker, “Photography” Ringo Starr and “Jealous boy” by the author John Lennon.

Indeed, the British pianist contributed to the solo albums of all four former Beatles, including Lennon. ImagineStarr Ringo, George Harrison‘s Life in the material world and Paul McCartney‘s Flowers in the dirt.

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Peter Frampton and Dave Davis of The Kinks appear in the documentary to pay tribute to their late colleague. Richards and Jagger were first introduced to Hopkins’ piano prowess as teenagers during a night out at the Marquee in 1962.

“Nicky could do the absolutely incredible — you’d believe (Chicago blues great) Otis Spam was in the room, which for a white Englishman in (the) 1960s was absolutely amazing,” Richards says in the documentary. adding, “He could play almost anything.”

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But for all his serious qualities, Hopkins almost became part of one of rock music’s most arbitrary jokes. in Man of the sessionHarry Shearer, one of the founders Spinal puncturereveals that at one point he wanted Hopkins to be a member of the mockumentary band. That’s right—the guy responsible for the tender piano melodies on “Jealous Guy” and “You Are So Beautiful” could have been on Spinal Tap.

“You know, I think we met Nicky when we were getting together, when we were looking for people to be in the band,” Shearer, 80, says in the document. “And, um, I think we met him just to get the excitement of meeting Nicky because he was… I think he was busy at the time. And we just thought, well, let’s meet up.”

Although the group was formed by Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest for the 1984 satirical film This is a spinal tapthey were very serious about their interest in Hopkins.

“We didn’t jerk him off or anything,” Shearer continues. “We just want to say, ‘We do this and you do that, and how great.’ But he worked. You know, we’d… I think he’d be too good for us, you know, we weren’t trying to make bad music, Nicky was a virtuoso and, well, I think we’d have a hard time making it funny.”

Hopkins did not join Spinal Tap, but he played on the song “Rainy Day Sun”. a track from their 1992 album, To break like the wind – which also featured musical contributions from Sher, Slash and Jeff Beck.

The latter, Hopkins’ widow, Moira, was the focus of an amusing exchange during the making of the album, according to the document. In the recording studio, Hopkins asked This is a spinal tap director Christopher Guest if he based his Spinal Tap alter ego, Nigel Tufnell, on Jeff Beck. “He said, ‘Go ahead, just tell me,'” she recalls. “He says, ‘You were Jeff Beck, weren’t you?’ He wouldn’t tell him.

But all kidding aside, Shearer was proud to be associated with one of rock’s most obscure talents through Spinal Tap.

“Part of the excitement of doing this project,” he says, “was that it was in the making or later we met people we really thought about, and Nicky was one of them.”

Man of the session will be available to stream on November 5 on Amazon Prime.