Nicky Hopkins

Nicholas Christian Hopkins, detto Nicky (Londra, 24 febbraio 1944 – Nashville, 6 settembre 1994), è stato un pianista inglese. Oltre a pubblicare diversi dischi da solista, fu il più ricercato pianista session man della musica rock negli anni sessanta e settanta, avendo collaborato con numerosi gruppi musicali di quel periodo. I gravi problemi di salute che lo afflissero per tutta la vita gli impedirono di esibirsi spesso dal vivo, costringendolo a limitare il suo grande talento quasi esclusivamente nelle registrazioni in studio.

Biografia

Infanzia

Nato nel Middlesex in una facoltosa famiglia, dimostrò il proprio talento musicale all'età di tre anni, quando la madre gli comprò un pianoforte. A sei anni iniziò a prendere lezioni private di piano, studiando musica classica, ma presto si appassionò al rock and roll. A unidici anni vinse una borsa di studio che gli permise di iscriversi alla prestigiosa Royal Academy of Music di Londra. Sin da bambino ebbe seri problemi di salute e in seguito gli sarebbe stata diagnosticata la malattia di Crohn.

Inizio carriera

Interruppe gli studi nel 1960 per unirsi a The Savages, una rock and roll band con il batterista Carlo Little, che avrebbe suonato con i Rolling Stones, il chitarrista Bernie Watson e il bassista Rick "Fenson" Brown. Nel 1961 il cantante Dave Sutch si unì al gruppo, che prese il nome Screaming Lord Sutch and The Savages. Nel maggio 1962 Hopkins e Watson lasciarono i Savages per entrare nei Cliff Bennett and his Rebel Rousers, il primo gruppo a firmare con il manager dei Beatles Brian Epstein. In questo periodo Hopkins conobbe i musicisti di Liverpool, che in seguito lo avrebbero ingaggiato come session man. Dopo un solo mese Hopkins e Watson lasciarono Bennett ed entrarono nei Rithm and Blues All Stars del già famoso Cyril Davies, pioniere del british blues, band della quale facevano parte anche Long John Baldry e Carlo Little. Tennero concerti ogni settimana al Marquee Club ed alcune volte i Rolling Stones furono il loro gruppo spalla. Nel luglio 1963 le All Stars si sciolsero per i problemi di salute di Davies. Quell'anno Nicky incise i suoi primi 45 giri con il gruppo di Davies.

Session man

La sua prima registrazione come session man fu nel 1963 per il singolo One Way Ticket/I'm Gonna Love del gruppo Casey Jones & The Engineers, di cui faceva parte anche Eric Clapton. Fu quindi ricoverato in ospedale dove gli fu diagnosticata la malattia di Crohn, con gravi complicanze che posero a rischio la sua vita e lo costrinsero a una degenza di 18 mesi. Fu in tale periodo che morì Cyril Davies, e quando Hopkins riprese la carriera nei primi mesi del 1965, era ormai famoso e fu subito invitato a suonare nei primi singoli e nell'album di esordio My Generation degli Who, con i quali avrebbe inciso in seguito anche Who's Next e The Who by Numbers. Nel 1965 collaborò anche con Peter and Gordon e in due album dei Kinks, con i quali suonò in diverse occasioni. Fu anche membro per un breve periodo di The Lancasters e The Outlaws, dove suonò con Ritchie Blackmore. Il 1966 vide le sue prime pubblicazioni, il singolo Mr. Big ed il primo album The Revolutionary Piano of Nicky Hopkins.
Verso fine anno prese parte alle incisioni per la colonna sonora di Brian Jones del film Vivi ma non uccidere, con una band di cui facevano parte Jimmy Page e lo stesso Jones. Questi fu impressionato dal suo talento ed ebbe subito inizio la lunga collaborazione di Hopkins con i Rolling Stones, partecipando al singolo Something Happened to me Yesterday e realizzando la sovraincisione al piano per l'album Between the Buttons. Altri album del gruppo londinese in cui ha suonato sono Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967), Beggars Banquet (1968), Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main St. (1972), Goats Head Soup (1973) e It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (1974). Le canzoni degli Stones in cui il suo contributo è maggiormente celebrato sono Angie, She's a Rainbow, Gimme Shelter e Tumbling Dice.
Hopkins ha collaborato con i Rolling Stones alternandosi assai spesso con quello che avrebbe dovuto essere il pianista "titolare" degli Stones, Ian "Stu" Stewart ed è Hopkins ad essere ricordato come "la sesta pietra". Durante le pause di registrazione per l'album Let It Bleed degli Stones, ebbe modo di incidere anche il disco Jamming with Edward! improvvisando con Ry Cooder, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts e Bill Wyman. Registrato nel 1969, l'album fu pubblicato nel 1972.
Nell'aprile del 1967 prese parte alle registrazioni dell'ultimo album degli Yardbirds Little Games. Il mese dopo suonò nella registrazione del brano degli Stones Sing This All Together (See What Happens), a cui presero parte anche John Lennon e Paul McCartney, che invitarono Hopkins per l'incisione del singolo dei Beatles Revolution del 1968. Altri musicisti con cui ha suonato in questo periodo sono Rod Stewart, Keith Richards, Keith Emerson, Georgie Fame, Jeff Beck Group, Bill Wyman, John McLaughlin, Andy White e Marc Bolan. Nel brano di quest'ultimo, Jasper C. Debussy, oltre a Hopkins parteciparono David Bowie e Jimmy Page. Nel 1968 suonò per il disco The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles & Fripp con Robert Fripp, che poco dopo avrebbe fondato i King Crimson. Quello stesso anno fu attribuito a Hopkins e ad altri musicisti, tra cui Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones e Albert Lee, l'album No Introduction. In quel periodo ricevette l'invito a diventare membro dei Led Zeppelin, ma preferì rinunciare per gli impegni presi con Jeff Beck.

Esperienza negli Stati Uniti

Avendo suonato nelle principali band della British Invasion, Hopkins si era fatto conoscere anche negli Stati Uniti. Ebbe modo di apprezzare il Paese e la sua scena musicale durante le frequenti tournée americane che fece con il Jeff Beck Group, del quale divenne un membro. Durante la prima, avvenuta nel 1968, Jimi Hendrix suonò con il gruppo durante diversi concerti, rimanendo impressionato da Hopkins. Nella seconda ebbe modo di suonare con Frank Zappa e di registrare due album con la Steve Miller Band. In questo periodo, il gruppo suonò per l'album Barabajagal di Donovan. Nel corso della nuova tournée americana, nel 1969 Hopkins lasciò la band e si stabilì a Mill Valley, nei dintorni di San Francisco, dove era entrato in contatto con altre band della West Coast, come i Jefferson Airplane e i Quicksilver Messenger Service. Sommerso dagli impegni, gli Stone dovettero volare a Los Angeles per finire con lui le registrazioni di Let it Bleed. Al ritorno a San Francisco partecipò alle incisioni di Volunteers dei Jefferson, suonando con la band al Festival di Woodstock nell'agosto 1969.
Diventò quindi membro dei Quicksilver in occasione di Shady Grove, il secondo album della band, nel quale eseguì un notevole assolo di piano nel brano Edward, the Mad Shirt Grinder. Sarebbe rimasto con la band per quattro album, compreso quello delle riunione nel 1975. Nel periodo iniziale a Mill Valley, sposò in prime nozze Linda. Nel 1972 prese parte alla famosa tournée americana degli Stones. Il successo procuratogli dalla pubblicazione di Jamming with Edwards gli valse un contratto con la Columbia e poté realizzare nel 1973 il suo secondo album, The Tin Man Was a Dreamer, che malgrado un cast di grandi musicisti comprendente George Harrison, dimostrò lo scarso richiamo di Hopkins nelle vesti di front man. Il successivo No More Changes del 1975 non ebbe maggior fortuna e fu il suo ultimo album solista. Dopo un breve periodo in Inghilterra tornò negli Stati Uniti, dove rimase diversi anni.
Dopo lo scioglimento dei Beatles, Hopkins ebbe modo negli anni settanta di lavorare in album di tutti e quattro i membri del gruppo: Imagine e Walls and Bridges di Lennon, Living in the Material World di Harrison, Ringo di Ringo Starr e Flowers in the Dirt di McCartney. Verso la fine degli anni settanta aggravò la propria salute esagerando nel consumo di droghe e alcolici; i concerti che fece con Jerry Garcia e Joe Cocker furono spesso rovinati da comportamenti deprecabili. Già debilitato dalla malattia cronica, fu quindi costretto a seguire un programma di disintossicazione. Il talento e la professionalità gli permisero di continuare a lavorare con molti musicisti, compresi Rod Stewart, Graham Parker, Meat Loaf, Julio Iglesias e molti gruppi emergenti.
Dopo aver divorziato nel 1986 dalla prima moglie, conobbe e sposò Moira Buchanan, con la quale visse felice gli ultimi anni di vita. Ritornò in patria e collaborò nei lavori di Art Garfunkel, Jack Bruce, Gary Moore e degli Sky, ma l'ambiente musicale non lo soddisfò. Si trasferì a Los Angeles, dove molto del suo lavoro fu concentrato su musiche per film e televisione, ottenendo grande successo in Giappone con le colonne sonore.

Morte e tributi

Un nuovo aggravamento della salute lo costrinse nel 1993 ad un nuovo ricovero ospedaliero e all'inizio del 1994 andò a vivere a Nashville, in Tennessee. Continuò a lavorare fino alla morte, che avvenne nel 1994 quando aveva 50 anni per complicazioni legate alla sua vecchia malattia e alla sua fragilità.
Con le sue collaborazioni in centinaia di dischi, pochi hanno suonato in così tanti lavori di alto livello come fece Hopkins. Fu grandemente richiesto dai migliori artisti per la velocità e precisione con cui sapeva eseguire qualsiasi tipo di musica gli fosse richiesto. Era inoltre gradito ai colleghi non solo per la sua abilità, ma anche per la sua professionalità ed allegria. Bill Wyman dei Rolling Stones lo ha definito il più grande pianista del rock and roll, i Kinks gli hanno dedicato il brano Session Man nell'album Face to Face del 1966, il critico statunitense Dave Marsh lo ha considerato il più importante session man di tutti i tempi. Nils Lofgren disse che "Nicky scrisse il libro sul pianoforte nel rock and roll".
La biografia di Julian Dawson And on Piano - Nicky Hopkins: The Extraordinary Life of Rock's Greatest Session Man a lui dedicata è stata pubblicata nel 2011.

Discografia

Solista

1966 - The Revolutionary Piano Of Nicky Hopkins - CBS
1968 - No Introduction (insieme a Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Albert Lee, Chris Hughes, Keith David De Groot, Clem Cattini, Jim Sullivan) - Spark
1972 - Jamming with Edward! (insieme a Ry Cooder, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts e Bill Wyman) - Rolling Stones Records
1973 - The Tin Man Was a Dreamer - CBS
1975 - No More Changes - Mercury
1970 - Smoke and Fire (insieme a Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, John Bonham, Noel Redding) - Thunderbolt (in altre edizioni questo disco viene attribuito a Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends e con lo stesso titolo Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends)

Partecipazioni

Di seguito una lista parziale delle sue partecipazioni in album di altri musicisti:

Con gli Who

1965 - My Generation
1971 - Who's Next
1975 - The Who by Numbers

Con i Rolling Stones

1967 - Their Satanic Majesties Request
1968 - Beggars Banquet
1969 - Let It Bleed
1971 - Sticky Fingers
1972 - Exile on Main St.
1973 - Goats Head Soup
1974 - It's Only Rock 'n' Roll
1980 - Emotional Rescue

Con i Beatles

1968 - Revolution

Lato B del singolo Hey Jude

Con i Jefferson Airplane

Studio album:

1969 - Volunteers

Hopkins suona il piano in We Can Be Togheter, Hey Fredrick, Wooden Ships, A Song for All Seasons e Volunteers.

Live album:

2009 - The Woodstock Experience

Raccolta di vari artisti e gruppi musicali, registrato al Festival di Woodstock il 17 agosto 1969.

Con John Lennon

Studio album:

1971 - Imagine

Hopkins suona in Jealous Guy, How Do You Sleep?, Oh My Love e Oh Yoko!.

1974 - Walls and Bridges

Singoli:

1971 - Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

Lato-A del singolo Happy Xmas (War Is Over)/Listen the Snow Is Falling

Con George Harrison

Studio album:

1973 - Living in the Material World

Singoli:

1973 - Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)

Con i Quicksilver Messenger Service

1969 - Shady Grove
1970 - Just for Love
1970 - What About Me
1975 - Solid Silver

Con David Bowie

Singoli:

1965 - You've Got a Habit of Leaving

Trade ad for Nicky Hopkins's album The Tin Man Was a Dreamer.

Nicholas Christian Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. Hopkins recorded and performed on many notable British and American pop and rock music releases from the 1960s through the 1990s including many songs by the Rolling Stones.

Early life

Nicholas Christian Hopkins was born in Perivale, Middlesex, England, on 24 February 1944. He began playing piano at age three. He attended Wembley County Grammar School, which now forms part of Alperton Community School, and was initially tutored by a local piano teacher; in his teens he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London. He suffered from Crohn's disease from his youth.^{[citation needed]}
His poor health and repeated surgery would later make it difficult for him to tour, and he worked primarily as a session musician for most of his career.^{[citation needed]}

Early groups and as a session musician

Hopkins' studies were interrupted in 1960 when he left school at 16 to become the pianist with Screaming Lord Sutch's Savages until, two years later, he and fellow Savages Bernie Watson, Rick Brown (aka Ricky Fenson) and Carlo Little, joined the renowned blues harmonica player Cyril Davies, who had just left Blues Incorporated, and became the Cyril Davies (R&B) All-Stars. Hopkins played piano on their first single, Davies' much-admired theme tune "Country Line Special". However he was forced to leave the All Stars in May 1963 for a series of operations that almost cost him his life and was bed-ridden for nineteen months in his late teenage years. During his convalescence Davies died of leukaemia and the All Stars disbanded.
Hopkins' frail health led him to concentrate on working as a session musician instead of joining bands, although he left his mark performing with a wide variety of famous bands. He quickly became one of London's most in-demand session pianists and performed on many hit recordings from this period. He worked extensively for leading UK independent producers Shel Talmy and Andrew Loog Oldham and performed on albums and singles by the Easybeats, the Kinks, the Pretty Things, the Move, the Rolling Stones and the Who.
In 1967 he joined the Jeff Beck Group, formed by former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck with vocalist Rod Stewart, bassist Ronnie Wood and drummer Micky Waller, playing on the LPs Truth and Beck-Ola.
The following year, Hopkins recorded Beggars Banquet with the Rolling Stones, having previously worked for them on their 1967 single "We Love You" and the album Their Satanic Majesties Request. He also began to record for several San Franciscan groups, playing on albums by Jefferson Airplane (with whom he also performed in a one-off appearance at their Woodstock Festival concert in August 1969), the New Riders of the Purple Sage and the Steve Miller Band.
From 1969 to 1970, Hopkins was a full member of Quicksilver Messenger Service, appearing on Shady Grove (1969), Just for Love (1970) and What About Me (1970). In 1975, he contributed to the Solid Silver reunion album as a session musician.
By this point Hopkins was one of Britain's best-known session players, particularly through his work with the Rolling Stones and after playing electric piano on the Beatles' "Revolution" – a rare occasion when an outside rock musician appeared on a Beatles recording. Further raising his profile, he contributed to several Harry Nilsson albums in the early 1970s, including Nilsson Schmilsson and Son of Schmilsson, and recordings by Donovan.

With the Rolling Stones

Hopkins played with the Rolling Stones on their studio albums from Between the Buttons in 1967 through Tattoo You in 1981. Among his contributions, he supplied the prominent piano parts on "We Love You" and "She's a Rainbow" (both 1967), "Sympathy for the Devil" (1968), "Monkey Man" (1969), "Sway" (1971), "Loving Cup" and "Ventilator Blues" (1972), "Angie" (1973), "Time Waits for No One" (1974) and "Waiting on a Friend" (1981). When working with the band during their critical and commercial zenith in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Hopkins tended to be employed on a wide range of slower ballads, uptempo rockers and acoustic material; conversely, longtime de facto Stones keyboardist Ian Stewart only played on traditional major key blues rock numbers of his choice, while Billy Preston often featured on soul- and funk-influenced tunes. Hopkins' work with the Rolling Stones is perhaps most prominent on their 1972 studio album, Exile on Main St., where he contributed in a variety of musical styles.
Along with Ry Cooder, Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, Hopkins released the 1972 album Jamming with Edward! It was recorded in 1969, during the Stones' Let It Bleed sessions, when guitarist Keith Richards was not present in the studio. The eponymous "Edward" was an alias of Nicky Hopkins derived from studio banter with Brian Jones. It was incorporated into the title of an outstanding Hopkins instrumental performance ("Edward, the Mad Shirt Grinder") released on Shady Grove in December 1969. Hopkins also contributed to the Jamming With Edward! cover art.
Hopkins was added to the Rolling Stones touring line-up for the 1971 Good-Bye Britain Tour, as well as the notorious 1972 North American tour and the 1973 tour of Australia and New Zealand. He contemplated forming his own band with multi-instrumentalist Pete Sears and drummer Prairie Prince around this time but decided against it after the Stones tour. Hopkins failed to make the Rolling Stones' 1973 European tour due to ill health and, aside from a guest appearance in 1978, did not play again with the Stones live on stage.

With the Kinks

Hopkins was invited in 1965 by producer Shel Talmy to record with the Kinks. He recorded 4 studio albums: The Kink Kontroversy (1965), Face to Face (1966), Something Else by The Kinks (1967) and The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968).
The relationship between Hopkins and the Kinks deteriorated after the release of The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society, however. Hopkins maintained that "about seventy percent" of the keyboard work on the album was his, and was incensed when Ray Davies apparently credited himself for the majority of the keyboard playing.
Despite Hopkins' ensuing grudge against him, Davies spoke positively of his contributions in a New York Times interview in 1995:

Nicky, unlike lesser musicians, didn't try to show off; he would only play when necessary. But he had the ability to turn an ordinary track into a gem – slotting in the right chord at the right time or dropping a set of triplets around the back beat, just enough to make you want to dance. On a ballad, he could sense which notes to wrap around the song without being obtrusive. He managed to give "Days," for instance, a mysterious religious quality without being sentimental or pious.
Nicky and I were hardly bosom buddies. We socialized only on coffee breaks and in between takes. In many ways, I was still in awe of the man who in 1963 had played with the Cyril Davies All Stars on the classic British R & B record, "Country Line Special." I was surprised to learn that Nicky came from Wembley, just outside of London. With his style, he should have been from New Orleans, or Memphis.
… His best work in his short spell with the Kinks was on the album Face to Face. I had written a song called "Session Man," inspired partly by Nicky. Shel Talmy asked Nicky to throw in "something classy" at the beginning of the track. Nicky responded by playing a classical- style harpsichord part. When we recorded "Sunny Afternoon," Shel insisted that Nicky copy my plodding piano style. Other musicians would have been insulted but Nicky seemed to get inside my style, and he played exactly as I would have. No ego. Perhaps that was his secret.

Other groups and solo albums

In 1969, Hopkins was a member of the short-lived Sweet Thursday, a quintet comprising Hopkins, Alun Davies (Cat Stevens), Jon Mark, Harvey Burns and Brian Odgers. The band completed their eponymous debut album; however, the project was doomed from the start. Their American record label, Tetragrammaton Records, abruptly declared bankruptcy (by legend, the same day the album was released) with promotion and a possible tour never happening.
He released his second solo album (The Tin Man Was a Dreamer) in 1973 under the aegis of producer David Briggs, best known for his work with Neil Young and Spirit. Other musicians appearing on the album include George Harrison (credited as "George O'Hara"), Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones and Prairie Prince. Re-released by Columbia in 2004, the album features rare Hopkins vocal performances.
In August 1975, he joined the Jerry Garcia Band, then envisaged as a major creative vehicle for the guitarist during the mid-seventies hiatus of the Grateful Dead. His increasing use of alcohol precipitated several erratic live performances, resulting in him leaving the group by mutual agreement after a December 31 appearance.
His third solo album, entitled No More Changes, was also released in 1975. Appearing on the album are Hopkins (lead vocals and all keyboards), David Tedstone (guitars), Michael Kennedy (guitars), Rick Wills (bass), and Eric Dillon (drums and percussion), with back-up vocals from Kathi McDonald, Lea Santo-Robertie, Doug Duffey and Dolly. A fourth album, Long Journey Home, has remained unreleased. He also released three soundtrack albums in Japan between 1992 and 1993, The Fugitive, Patio and Namiki Family.
During 1979-1989, he was playing and touring with Los Angeles-based Night, who had a hit with a cover of Walter Egan's Hot Summer Nights
Hopkins, given his long association with The Who, was a key instrumentalist on the soundtrack for the 1975 Ken Russell film, Tommy. Hopkins played piano on most of the tracks, and is acknowledged in the album's liner notes for his work on the arrangements for most of the songs.
In addition to recording with the Beatles in 1968, Hopkins worked with each of the four when they went solo. Between 1970 and 1975, he appeared on many projects by John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, making key contributions to the critically acclaimed solo albums Imagine, Living in the Material World and Ringo. He worked only once with Paul McCartney, on the latter's 1989 album Flowers in the Dirt.

Later life

Hopkins lived in Mill Valley, California, for several years. During this time he worked with several local bands and continued to record in San Francisco. One of his complaints throughout his career was that he did not receive royalties from any of his recording sessions, because of his status at the time as merely a "hired hand", as opposed to pop stars with agents. He received songwriting credit for his work with the Jeff Beck Group, including an instrumental, "Girl From Mill Valley", on the 1969 album Beck-Ola. Only Quicksilver Messenger Service, through its manager Ron Polte and its members, gave Hopkins an ownership stake.^{[citation needed]} Towards the end of his life he worked as a composer and orchestrator of film scores, with considerable success in Japan.
In the early 1980s, Hopkins credited the controversial Church of Scientology-affiliated Narconon rehabilitation program with vanquishing his drug and alcohol addictions; he ultimately remained a Scientologist for the rest of his life. As a result of his religious affiliation, he contributed to several of L. Ron Hubbard's musical recordings.

Death

Hopkins died on 6 September 1994, at the age of 50, in Nashville, Tennessee, from complications resulting from intestinal surgery presumably related to his lifelong battle with Crohn's disease. At the time of his death, he was working on his autobiography with Ray Coleman. He is survived by his wife, Moira.^{[citation needed]} Songwriter and musician Julian Dawson collaborated with Hopkins on one recording, the pianist's last, in spring 1994, a few months before his death. After Ray Coleman's death, the connection led to Dawson working on a definitive biography of Nicky Hopkins, first published by Random House in German in 2010, followed in 2011 by the English-language version with the title And on Piano … Nicky Hopkins (a hardback in the UK via Desert Hearts, and a paperback in North America via Backstage Books/Plus One Press).

Selected performances

The Kinks, The Kink Kontroversy (1965), Sunny Afternoon (1966), Face to Face (1966), The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968)
The Who, "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" and "The Ox" (1965), My Generation album (1965), "The Song Is Over" (1971), "Getting in Tune" (1971), "We're Not Gonna Take It [movie remix]" (1975), "They Are All in Love" (1975), "Slip Kid" (1975), "How Many Friends" (1975)
The Rolling Stones, "In Another Land" (1967), She's a Rainbow" (1967) on the Their Satanic Majesties Request album, "We Love You" (1967), "Sympathy for the Devil" (1968), "Street Fighting Man" (1968), "Gimme Shelter" (1969), "Monkey Man" (1969), "Sway" (1971), "Tumbling Dice" and many others on Exile on Main St. (1972), "Angie" (1973), "Time Waits for No One" (1974), "Fool to Cry" (1976), "Waiting on a Friend" (recorded 1972, released 1981)
Jeff Beck, "Blues De Luxe", "Morning Dew" (1967), Truth (1967), and Hopkins's own self-penned "Girl From Mill Valley", on Beck-Ola (1969)
Cat Stevens, "Matthew and Son" (1967), Matthew and Son (1967)
The Easybeats, "Heaven & Hell", and an unreleased album titled Good Times (1967)
The Beatles, "Revolution" (single version) (1968)
Jackie Lomax, "Sour Milk Sea" (1968)
The Move, "Hey Grandma", "Mist on a Monday Morning", "Wild Tiger Woman" (all 1968)
Jefferson Airplane, "Volunteers" (1969), "Wooden Ships" (1969), "Eskimo Blue Day" (1969), "Hey Fredrick" (1969), whole Woodstock set
Steve Miller Band, "Kow Kow", "Baby's House" (which Hopkins co-wrote with Miller) (1969)
Donovan, "Barabajagal" (1969)
Quicksilver Messenger Service, Shady Grove (composer of "Edward, the Mad Shirt Grinder") (1969), Just for Love (1970) and What About Me (composer of "Spindrifter") (1970)
P. J. Proby, Reflections of Your Face (Amory Kane) from "Three Week Hero" (1969)
John Lennon, "Jealous Guy" (1971), "How Do You Sleep?" (1971), "Oh Yoko!" (1971), "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (1971), Walls and Bridges album (1974)
New Riders of the Purple Sage, Powerglide (1972)
Carly Simon, No Secrets (1972)
Jamming with Edward (jam session with Ry Cooder, Mick Jagger, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts (recorded 1969, released 1972)
Harry Nilsson, Son of Schmilsson (1972)
George Harrison, "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" (1973), Living in the Material World album (1973)
Ringo Starr, "Photograph" (1973), "You're Sixteen" (1973), "No No Song" (1974)
Joe Cocker, "You Are So Beautiful" (1974)
Marc Bolan, "Jasper C. Debussy" (recorded 1966–67, released 1974)
Peter Frampton, "Waterfall" and "Sail Away" (1974)
Jerry Garcia Band, Let It Rock: The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 2 (1975), Garcia Live Volume Five (1975)
Jerry Garcia, Reflections (1976)
Art Garfunkel, Breakaway (1975)
Rod Stewart, "You're in My Heart (The Final Acclaim)" (1977)
L. Ron Hubbard, "The Mining Song" (1982), "The Banker" (1982)
Joe Walsh, "Guilty of the Crime" from the album A Future to This Life: Robocop – The Series Soundtrack (1994)
Paul McCartney, "That Day Is Done" (1989)
The Dogs D'Amour, "Hurricane", "Trail of Tears", and "Princes Valium" from the Errol Flynn/King of the Thieves album (1989)
The Jayhawks, "Two Angels" and "Martin's Song" on the Hollywood Town Hall album (1992)
Graham Parker, Another Grey Area (1982)
Gene Clark (various recordings)
Brewer & Shipley
Additional Amory Kane works