Of fat dominoes and Jerry Lee Lewis to Billy Preston, Elton John and Billy Joelpianists have made incredible contributions to the history of rock and roll. But when it comes to the genre’s essential pianists, one MVP, in particular, usually flies under the radar.

All that is about to change with He session mana 90-minute documentary about the 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 I’m listening him.

Once one of the most sought-after session players in the business, who died in 1994 at age 50, Hopkins 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’re So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker, “Photography” by Ringo Starr and “Jealous Boy” John Lennon.

In fact, the British pianist contributed to the solo albums of all four former Beatles, including Lennon’s. Imaginestarr ringo, George Harrison‘s Living in the material world and Paul McCartney‘s Flowers on the ground.

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

“Nicky could do something absolutely incredible: you’d think (Chicago blues great) Otis Spam was in the room, which for a white English kid in (the) 1960s was absolutely amazing,” Richards says in the documentary. He added: “He could play almost 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 puncturereveals that at one point he wanted Hopkins to be a member of the mockumentary band. That’s right, the man responsible for the smooth piano melodies of “Jealous Guy” and “You Are So Beautiful” could have ended up at Spinal Tap.

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

Although the group was founded by Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest for the 1984 satirical film. This is lumbar punctureThey were very serious about their interest in Hopkins.

“We weren’t masturbating him or anything,” Shearer continues. “We just want to say, ‘We’re doing this and you’re doing that, and that’s cool.’ But he was working. Um, you know, we would have… I think it would have been too cool for us, you know, what we were trying to do.” to do, we weren’t trying to make bad music, but, I mean, “Nicky was a virtuoso and I think we would have had trouble making that fun.”

Hopkins didn’t end up joining Spinal Tap, but he did play the song “Rainy Day Sun.” a track from their 1992 album, Breaks like the wind – which also featured musical contributions from Cher, slash and jeff beck.

The latter, Hopkins’ widow Moira reveals in the doc, was the focus of a fun exchange during the making of the album. In the recording studio, Hopkins asked This is lumbar puncture director Christopher guest if he had inspired his Spinal Tap alter ego, Nigel Tufnel, on Jeff Beck. “He said, ‘Come on, just tell me,'” she recalls. “He says, ‘You were Jeff Beck, right?’ “I wouldn’t tell him. I wouldn’t admit it.”

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

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

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