Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan told the story of Rolling Stones piano legend Ian Stewart playing him the first Delaney & Bonnie album, The Original Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. They were blown away by Leon Russell’s piano playing, especially on the track “Ghetto.” But then Stewart told McLagan that he’d also played the album for another piano player who was equally astonished at Leon’s playing. He listened to “Ghetto,” once, and promptly sat down at the piano and played the song perfectly. Stewart said “that’s what I hate about him.” McLagan went on, “I understood his frustration, as neither of us could compete with [him] as a piano player. Our talents are our own, but we couldn’t just play something that brilliant after hearing it for the first time. He really was annoyingly, incredibly talented.” He was talking about the man born 80 years ago today in Perivale, Middlesex, England, near Wembley, the remarkable Nicholas Christian NICKY Hopkins.

To document his credits would be a blog post unto itself. As a child he was first taught piano by a local teacher, eventually winning a scholarship to London’s Royal Academy of Music. He left school to join Screaming Lord Sutch’s band The Savages, departing two years later with three other members of the group to join the band of blues harmonica player Cyril Davies, The Cyril Davies (R & B) All Stars. The first single would instantly make Nicky a legend, “Country Line Special.”

Hopkins had a lifelong struggle with Crohn’s Disease, operations for which lead to him being bedridden for nearly two years, during which time the All Star’s disbanded following Cyril Davies’ passing from leukemia. Due to Nicky’s ongoing health struggles, once he gained back his strength, he pursued the life of a session musician. Over the course of his career, he would play memorable piano parts for The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who, Jefferson Airplane (including the band’s appearance at Woodstock), Harry Nilsson, Graham Parker, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Joe Cocker, The Easybeats, Joe Walsh, Badfinger, and many, many others. He would play sessions for John, Paul, George and Ringo individually.

But it is his work for The Rolling Stones that stands apart. He played on every Stones studio album from Their Satanic Majesties Request to Tattoo You, except for Some Girls. He’d tour with the band in 1972, following the sessions for Exile On Main St., on which he appears on 14 of the 18 tracks. Songs recorded earlier with Mick, Charlie, Bill Wyman and Ry Cooder from the Let It Bleed sessions would be released in ’72 on the album Jamming With Edward, “Edward” being the nickname bestowed on Nicky by Brian Jones.

He was a founding member of The Jeff Beck Group, with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, who recorded his instrumental “Girl from Mill Valley” on the Beck-Ola album. He would become a full-time member of Quicksilver Messenger Service for two years in ’69/’70. He’d join the first iteration of The Jerry Garcia Band in mid-’75, with a great lineup including Ronnie Tutt on drums. It was a short lived tenure though, due to Nicky’s drinking issues, exacerbated by his ongoing difficulties from Crohn’s. After a New Year’s Eve gig it was mutually agreed he’d leave the band.

He also recorded three solo albums, the most well-known being 1973’s The Tin Man Was a Dreamer.

He was working on his autobiography with author Ray Coleman when he died on September 6, 1994, from complications following intestinal surgery related to Crohn’s. He was 50 years old.

Today’s Playlist is a no-brainer, a SomethingIsHappening compendium celebrating the life of Nicky Hopkins.