\n John Wood, from East Grinstead, has spent thousands of his own money, and almost a decade, working to get recognition for Nicky Hopkins, a highly gifted and prolific session pianist who worked with\u00a0the likes of The Kinks,\u00a0The Who,\u00a0The Rolling Stones\u00a0and\u00a0The Beatles, and contributed to over 250 albums during a stellar career which spanned more than 30 years.\n<\/p>\n
\n At a screening at Ealing Picture House on Thursday, November 20, John was delighted that Ronnie Wood, a member of The Rolling Stones who knew Hopkins, arrived to watch the film.\n<\/p>\n
\n John Wood (left) with Ronnie Wood (centre) and drummer Woody Woodmansey (right) (Image: John Wood)\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe was so lovely,\u201d John said. \u201cI gave him a big hug and thanked him for coming.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThroughout the film he kept nudging me and giving me the thumbs up. He said to me that beforehand Mick Jagger had called him and said he was so glad he was going.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Nicky played on the Stones’ Sympathy for the Devil and The Beatles Revolution.\n<\/p>\n
\n He played on solo works by each of the Fab Four, including John Lennon\u2019s Imagine album, and played for the Kinks, the Move, Jefferson Airplane and the Steve Miller Band. He was a member of the Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, and Quicksilver Messenger Service.\n<\/p>\n
\n John says his \u201ccalling\u201d in life is \u201cgetting unsung heroes the attention and recognition they deserve\u201d, which includes his father, Leonard Berney, a former Brighton College pupil who was one of the first British soldiers to liberate Bergen-Belsen, and his step-father, Kenneth Wood, the founder of the Kenwood Manufacturing Company.\n<\/p>\n
\n Nicky Hopkins, a prolific and gifted session pianist (Image: Oswald Baumeister)\n<\/p>\n
\n It was a client of John\u2019s social media business, a friend of Hopkins, who first made him aware of the pianist.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe used to tell me about Nicky, and I kept thinking, \u2018how has no one heard of this guy who worked with the biggest stars in the world?\u2019 I thought, \u2018he really deserves some recognition\u2019.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe died young, at 50, with no awards in his life. No one asked who was playing the piano on those records, no one ever asked that question. I said, \u2018I\u2019m going to do something about this, he deserves to be known\u2019.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The bench in Hopkins’ honour (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n
\n The 65-year-old first crowdfunded a bench, designed to look like a piano, in a park in Hopkins\u2019 hometown of Ealing. The bench was funded by donations from a number of stars who knew Hopkins, including Yoko Ono and Mick Jagger.\n<\/p>\n
\n He then managed to convince the council to place a plaque on the house he was born in \u2013 all with the support of his widow, Moira who has become a \u201cclose friend\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cNicky was so unknown, even Ealing Council were not aware of how important he was,\u201d John said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cMusicians know Nicky \u2013 he was royalty within the musical word \u2013 but the public don\u2019t. I wanted to keep his name alive because he was being forgotten.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n John and Hopkins’ widow, Moira, unveil a plaque on his childhood home (Image: Hy Money)\n<\/p>\n
\n Next John persuaded the Royal Academy of Music, where Hopkins trained, to create a scholarship for students in his name.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI had done the bench, done the plaque, done the scholarship, and someone said to me \u2018why not do a documentary?\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI thought, what a headache \u2013 films cost thousands, there are legal and copyright issues \u2013 and I\u2019m not a filmmaker in any way.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Through a friend, John managed to get \u201cseasoned TV professional\u201d, Mike Treen on board as the film\u2019s director.\n<\/p>\n
\n Filming started in November 2019, and the film, The Session Man, was released at the Barbican in September 2023 before touring festivals all around the world and winning a number of awards.\n<\/p>\n
\n The film has been well reviewed by a number of outlets, including The Guardian.\n<\/p>\n
\n Nicky Hopkins with Ronnie Wood (first two pictures) and with Rod Stewart (second two pictures) (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n
\n The film features interviews with a number of big names, including\u00a0Bill Wyman, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Dave Davies and Pete Townshend.\n<\/p>\n
\n The documentary includes \u201cmoving\u201d discussion of Crohn\u2019s disease, which Hopkins suffered with throughout his life, and his battle with drug addiction.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt cost me a packet,\u201d John admitted. \u201cBut we made it on a shoestring. Mike worked so hard; it was such a passion project for us. Mike would usually have had a big team because a film is tonnes of admin, but we did it all ourselves.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n John even received a letter from Queen Camilla, expressing her interest in the film, after they met at an event.\n<\/p>\n
\n John received a letter from Queen Camilla (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n
\n Next, John decided he wanted Hopkins to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThey told us, if you want him in then you need to get people who knew him to write to us,\u201d John said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe ended up with 52 glowing recommendations including a wonderful video from Ronnie Wood.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019ll never forget the moment they told us he was in.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Hopkins was inducted at a glittering ceremony in LA on November 8, alongside Cyndi Lauper, Outkast and several others.\n<\/p>\n
\n Hopkins’ widow, Moira, at the ceremony in LA (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n
\n John attended the ceremony with his wife as well as Moira, Hopkins\u2019 window, and her son.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sadly, the film\u2019s director, Mike, died on April 11 \u2013 just weeks before the committee announced Hopkins would be inducted.\n<\/p>\n
\n In the end, John has ploughed \u00a3200,000 of his own money into the film and though he hopes to eventually break even, he says that achieving recognition for Hopkins has always been his main goal.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt has taken over my life completely,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve loved every second; it has been so exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Wood, from East Grinstead, has spent thousands of his own money, and almost a decade, working to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-284108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}