From Domino of fats And Jerry Lee Lewis to Billy Preston, Elton John And Billy Joelpianists have made an incredible contribution to the history of rock and roll. But as the genre’s essential pianists say, one MVP, in particular, is usually overlooked.

Everything is about to change with THE Session mana 90-minute documentary about legendary but little-known pianist Nicky Hopkins premiering November 5 on Amazon Prime. If you haven’t heard of Hopkins, you’re not alone. But you definitely have heard him.

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

In fact, the British pianist contributed to the solo albums of all four former Beatles, including Lennon’s. ImagineStarr Ringo, George HarrisonIt is Living in the material world And Paul McCartneyIt is Flowers in the earth.

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Peter Frampton and Dave Davies of the Kinks all appear in the documentary to sing the praises of their late colleague. Richards and Jagger first discovered Hopkins’ piano prowess as teenagers at a party at the Marquee in 1962.

“Nicky could do the absolute incredible – you’d think (Chicago blues great) Otis Spam was in the room, which for a white English kid in the 1960s was absolutely incredible,” Richards says in the documentary. adding, “He could play just about anything.”

But for all his serious credentials, Hopkins almost ended up being part of one of rock music’s most enduring jokes. In The session manHarry Shearer, founding member of Lumbar tapreveals that at one point he wanted Hopkins to be a member of the mockumentary group. That’s right: the guy responsible for the gentle piano melodies of “Jealous Guy” and “You Are So Beautiful” could have ended up in Spinal Tap.

“You know, I think we met Nicky when we were looking for people to be in the band,” Shearer, 80, reveals in the document. “And, uh, I think we met him just for the pleasure of meeting Nicky because he was… I think he was busy at the time. And so, we just thought, well , let’s have a meeting.”

Although the group was started by Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest for the 1984 satirical film It’s a lumbar puncturethey were very serious about their interest in Hopkins.

“We didn’t jerk him off or anything,” Shearer continues. “We just want to say, ‘We’re doing this, and you’re doing that, and it’s great.’ But he was working. Um, you know, we would have… I think he would have been too good for us, you know, what we were trying to do. We weren’t trying to make bad music, but, I want to. say, Nicky was a virtuoso and, uh, I think we would have had a hard time making it funny.

Hopkins didn’t end up joining Spinal Tap, but he did perform on the song “Rainy Day Sun.” a track from their 1992 album, Break like the wind — which also featured musical contributions from Dear, Slash And Jeff Beck.

The latter, Hopkins’ widow, Moira, reveals in the doc, was the subject of a funny exchange during the making of the album. At the recording studio, Hopkins asked It’s a lumbar puncture director Christophe Guest if he had modeled his Spinal Tap alter ego, Nigel Tufnel, on Jeff Beck. “He said, ‘Go ahead and tell me,’” she recalls. “He said, ‘You were Jeff Beck, weren’t you?’ He wouldn’t tell her. He wouldn’t admit it.”

But all joking aside, Shearer was proud to be associated with one of rock’s most overlooked talents via Spinal Tap.

“Part of the excitement of doing this project,” he says, “was, uh, either in the making or later, meeting people that we really cared about, and, uh, Nicky was absolutely one of them.”

The session man will be available to stream on November 5 on Amazon Prime.