7The Beatles. The Rolling Stones. The Who. The Kinks. The Jefferson Airplane. Joe Cocker. Quicksilver Messenger Service. The Yardbirds. Harry Nilsson. At the heart of their music, and of hundreds of others, was one man and a piano: Nicky Hopkins. For three generations, rock'n'roll has been the heartbeat of our world, and Nicky Hopkins defines rock'n'roll. For thirty years, before his tragically early death in 1994, Nicky Hopkins put his mark on some of the most unforgettable popular music ever made. This is the definitive work on rock music's greatest session player, and one of its unsung heroes. As Nils Lofgren (E Street Band) put it, "Nicky wrote the book on rock 'n' roll piano." This is the book about how he did it.