Nicky Hopkins; Pianist Played With Beatles, Rolling Stones

Nicky Hopkins, 50, session pianist who backed the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and other groups. He also worked with the Who and was a keyboard player for the Jefferson Airplane when the group appeared at Woodstock in 1969. His playing is heard on “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Tumbling Dice” with the Rolling Stones and “Revolution” with the Beatles. When he lived in Southern California, Hopkins was often persuaded to do “a Nicky thing” in small clubs--his own version of energetic barrelhouse piano. On Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn., of heart disease.