Classic Hits

New documentary The Session Man about the late rock keyboardist Nicky Hopkins is out now on Prime Video, giving fans insight into the famed musician who played on records by The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones and more.

The film features interviews with Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, as well as The Kinks’ Dave Davies, The Who’s Pete Townshend and Peter Frampton, who met Hopkins when he was hired to play guitar on Harry Nilsson‘s album Son of Schmilsson. 

“Nicky and I hit it off straight away,” Frampton tells ABC Audio. “I mean, he was a gentle soul, a gentle man, and very much so. And that shows in his emotional playing.”

Newly minted rock & Roll Hall of Famer Frampton thinks Hopkins deserves to be in the Rock Hall as well, especially when you consider his body of work. He played on The Beatles’ “Revolution,” as well as the Stones’ Exile on Main St. and Let It Bleed; The Who’s Who’s Next; The Kinks’ Face to Face; and John Lennon‘s Imagine. He played on 250 albums in all.

“[Do] you know the list of people he played with?” says Frampton. “It’s incredible who he didn’t play with!”

When it comes to the many classics Hopkins played on, Frampton says you can really get the feel for who he was as an artist by listening to his work on Joe Cocker’s top five hit, “You Are So Beautiful.”

“I mean, it’s just Joe and him playing piano,” Frampton says. “And it’s an incredible piece of piano playing. So he was definitely a genius. Didn’t realize it.”

He adds, “You know, I’m sure he knew he was good. But that was the beautiful thing about him. He was always so modest and that’s why I was a friend of his.”

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Michael, the biopic about King of Pop Michael Jackson, will now arrive in theaters next fall — about six months after its initial release date.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film, which has the support of MJ’s estate, will now open on Oct. 3, 2025. Its initial release date was April 18, and there’s no word on the reason for the delay.

Michael stars Michael’s nephew Jafaar Jackson as his late uncle, and the cast also includes Colman Domingo, Miles Teller and Nia Long. It’s being directed by Antoine Fuqua, who gave us Training Day, the Equalizer trilogy and Olympus Has Fallen.

Fun fact: In addition to being an acclaimed director, Fuqua is the nephew of Harvey Fuqua, a songwriter and executive at Michael’s former label, Motown.

According to a synopsis, the film will cover Michael’s “human side,” including his “personal struggles,” as well as his “undeniable creative genius.”

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A North Carolina town is honoring the Queen of Christmas.

Cary, North Carolina, changed its name for one day to honor Mariah Carey. The town’s mayor, Harold Weinbrecht, announced on the local radio station Mix 101.5 that on Nov. 1 the town would be renamed Carey in honor of the singer.

“It’s tiiiiimmmmeeee!” the town of Cary wrote on its official Instagram. “In honor of @mariahcarey and the holiday magic that she brings each year, Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht has proclaimed this morning on @mix1015wralfm that on November 1, 2024, Cary in the state of North Carolina shall be spelled C-A-R-E-Y for ‘One Sweet Day.'”

In a video shared to Instagram, a woman adds an “E” to the town’s sign, changing it from “Cary” to “Carey.” The picture carousel also included photos of Weinbrecht posing with the official proclamation.

“All are invited to Downtown Carey—no matter our spelling—to experience our enchanting light displays and take part in memorable events through the new year, because all we want for Christmas—and every holiday this season—is to celebrate together, with love in our hearts and joy in our community,” the caption continued.

Mariah commented on the post, “This is amazing!!! I’m so honored!! Can’t wait to be in North Carolina next month!!”

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In October, Pink Floyd sold the rights to their recorded works to Sony Music for a reported $400 million. And guitarist David Gilmour says he’s glad to be done with it — so he doesn’t have to fight with his bandmates anymore.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Gilmour, 78, says, “I’m an old person. I’ve spent the last 40-odd years trying to fight the good fight against the forces of indolence and greed to do the best with our stuff that you can do. And I’ve given that fight up now.”

“I’ve got my advance — because, you know, it’s not fresh new money or anything like that. It’s an advance against what I would have earned over the next few years anyway,” he continues. “But the arguments and fighting and idiocies that have been going on for the last 40 years between these four disparate groups of people and their managers and whatever — it’s lovely to say goodbye to.”

Gilmour and Pink Floyd bassist/vocalist Roger Waters have famously been at odds for several years. The rest of the “four groups of people” Gilmour is referring to are presumably drummer Nick Mason and his camp, and late keyboard player Rick Wright, who died in 2008 but was involved in nearly all the group’s recordings.

The estate of founding member Syd Barrett, who was ejected from the group in 1968 and died in 2006, also benefited from the deal, though he wasn’t involved in the 40 years of “arguments and fighting.”

Gilmour, currently touring behind his album Luck and Strange, further tells the paper that he’s retained his publishing rights, so he doesn’t really care what Sony does with the band’s classic recordings: “If it comes on an advert, I’m not gonna give a s***.”

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Robert Plant is rich enough to take a private plane wherever he wants to go, but evidently he prefers to take the train — if you believe a new ad for Italy’s Trenitalia rail service.

Plant is currently touring Europe with his acoustic band Saving Grace, which features Suzy Dian. According to Classic Rock magazine, when they were in Italy they made the promotional film for Trenitalia’s new “Red Arrow” high-speed service, which reaches speeds up to 186 mph.

Called Welcome aboard, Robert Plant!, the film is set to Plant and Saving Grace’s cover of “Everybody’s Song” by the band Low. It shows Plant and Dian traveling between Naples and Venice — a 435-mile journey that takes five hours — in luxurious surroundings on the Red Arrow. It ends with them arriving and then performing live in concert.

The tagline is, “When a rock legend chooses Red Arrow to get to his concerts, the journey becomes music.”

Plant and Saving Grace are currently on the U.K. leg of their tour, which wraps up Nov. 24. They have more European dates scheduled for next year, starting in May.

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Mariah Carey wants you to know it’s time to celebrate Christmas.

The singer has teamed up with Amazon Music to release brand-new holiday decor and tour merchandise in support of her 2024 Mariah Carey’s Christmas Time tour and the 30-year anniversary of her classic hit, “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”

You can deck the halls with new holiday decor, such as ornaments, tree skirts, wrapping paper, candlesticks, snow globes, a robe and slippers and, to top it all off, a 12-foot inflatable lawn decoration featuring Mariah on a sleigh being pulled by three reindeer. There’s also a festive stocking that fans can purchase online or at all stops of the Mariah Carey Christmas Time tour.

As for the tour merchandise collection, fans can purchase T-shirts, jackets, hoodies, earmuffs and scarves with all new designs and imagery. There’s also a bedazzled tumbler. All of the merch is available online and in venue at every stop of the tour, which begins on Nov. 6 in Highland, California.

“IT’S TIME (!!!) to launch my new decor and merch collection with Amazon Music to ring in the holidays,” Mariah said in a press release. “This collection lets you festivate in style with luxurious pieces like my cozy Christmas robe, sparkling ornaments, beautiful tree skirts, and even a life-sized Mariah Carey inflatable. I hope my fans are going to love the ‘Christmas Time’ tour merch and I can’t wait to see them decked out in it at the shows!”

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On This Day, Nov. 5, 1971 …

Elton John released his fourth studio album, Madman Across The Water, featuring nine tracks composed and performed by Elton, with lyrics written by his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin.

The album featured two future Elton classics, “Tiny Dancer” and “Levon,” although neither were huge hits at the time they were released. In fact, while “Levon” peaked at #24, “Tiny Dancer” failed to make the top 40, only making it to #41.

Madman Across The Water charted at #8 on the Billboard 200 Album chart and has gone on to be certified double Platinum by the RIAA.

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Tyka Nelson, the only full sibling of Prince, has died, ABC News has confirmed. She was 64.

A musician, songwriter and author, Nelson died Nov. 4 at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. She’s survived by her two sons, Sir and President, as well as two sisters, a brother and five grandchildren. 

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that “you take care of one another.”

Nelson released four albums and had been set to retire from performing in June following a farewell concert, but according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the concert went on without her after she became ill. She said at the time that she was writing a memoir. Her last public performance was in 2018.

Like Prince, Nelson was the daughter of jazz singer Mattie Della Shaw and pianist and songwriter John Lewis Nelson; she was born in 1960, two years after her brother.

Nelson was one of six individuals who were ruled to be Prince’s legal heirs after he died in 2016. She and two others sold their interests in the estate to Primary Wave Music; the other three retained theirs. In 2022, control of the estate was split between Primary Wave and the other three siblings, plus their advisers.

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Bruce Springsteen seemingly wants to remind everyone who’s Boss — even on the set of his own biopic.

According to People, Springsteen dropped by the New Jersey set of Deliver Me From Nowhere on Nov. 4 and was photographed embracing Jeremy Allen White, who’s playing him in the film. The movie chronicles the creation of Bruce’s 1982 album, Nebraska, and is adapted from the Warren Zanes book of the same name.

In the photos, White is dressed all in black, including a black leather jacket similar to the one Springsteen wore during that time. Bruce, meanwhile, is rocking flannel and denim. The Boss recently told The Telegraph that he knew White could do the job after seeing him in the Emmy-winning role that the actor is most famous for.

“I only had to see him on The Bear, and I knew he was the right guy, because he had that interior life, but he also had a little swagger,” Bruce said.

In addition to White, Deliver Me From Nowhere stars Jeremy Strong as Springsteen’s manager, Jon Landau.

Bruce’s drop-in came in the middle of his tour of Canada with the E Street Band; he’s set to play Toronto on Nov. 6.

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Tuesday marks the 40th anniversary of Bryan Adams’ fourth studio album, Reckless, which was a huge commercial success for the Canadian rocker.

The album’s release coincided with Adams’ 25th birthday and it hit #1 on the Billboard 200 Album chart — to this day it’s Adams’ only #1 record in the U.S.

But even before the release and the chart success, Adams knew Reckless was a good one. 

“I knew going into this record that I had something special,” he tells ABC Audio. “I knew that when we recorded the first couple of tracks for the record that we were on to something really good.”

He added, “We didn’t know really what we’d created, we just [knew] we liked it. And that was the test, you know?” 

The album spawned six singles, including the #1 hit “Heaven”; “Summer of ’69,” which went to #5; the Tina Turner duet “It’s Only Love”; “Somebody”; and “One Night Love Affair.” But for Adams, it was the album’s first single, “Run To You,” which went to #6, that was the standout.

“The magical songs that came out of it obviously are the ones that were some of the biggest hits, and one of them, of course, was ‘Run to You,’” he says. “For me, ‘Run to You’ was the jewel of the album, because … it just set the tone for everything.” 

Reckless went on to sell 12 million copies worldwide and is Adams’ second-highest-selling record in the U.S. behind 1991’s Waking Up The Neighbors. The album went on to be certified five-times Platinum in the U.S.

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