Throughout the numerous decades of his illustrious career, Merrell Fankhauser crossed paths with many influential and famous musicians, including the wonderful keyboardist Nicky Hopkins. Nicky’s signature sound can be heard on such landmark recordings as Sympathy For The Devil (The Rolling Stones), Getting In Tune (The Who), Jealous Guy (John Lennon), Edward, the Mad Shirt Grinder (Quicksilver Messenger Service) and Wooden Ships (Jefferson Airplane).
Here's how Merrell remembers his talented friend:
It was a great day when piano wiz Nicky Hopkins walked on the set of my satellite TV show California Music that went to 40 million viewers in 1991! He brought along with him bass guitarist Roger Capps from Pat Benatar’s band. We got situated with our instruments and amplifiers and got ready for a live jam and interview. We decided to do some Carl Perkins songs and one of my originals. The camera and production crew were amazed at the music that came out, it was like we had been playing together for years, so natural and exciting. They filmed us doing 4 songs and then it was time for the interview with Nicky. We talked about his early days learning to play the piano when he was still a very young child and his mom had to hold him on her lap so he could reach the piano keys! Then we talked about his stint playing with British blues musician Cyril Davis and Screaming Lord Sutch at the Marque Club, meeting The Rolling Stones and playing and recording with them, and later with The Beatles and working on John Lennon’s solo album. Nicky played and recorded with so many well-known bands and artists, including Willie Nelson, his bio reads like a who's who of recorded music from the 60s to the 90s!
Nicky and I became fast friends and decided we should do some recording and live concerts together. He and his wife Moira would stay at my house often when they were traveling between LA and San Francisco. We did a standout concert in June of 1991 at the Pismo Beach Veterans Hall to a capacity crowd with my band that featured my son Tim on vocals and guitar. Later in 1992 Nicky and I recorded my song Queen MU that came out on my Return To MU album released worldwide on several labels. We kept in touch and had many memorable visits together until his untimely passing in 1994. It was a very sad day when Nicky’s wife Moira called me from Florida and said he died from a stomach aneurism. I was proud to call him my friend and I cherish the time we spent together doing what we loved: playing music. I wrote a song about Nicky after his passing.
