Yeah, that was Brian Wilson when David Paton was taken to him backstage after some gig. Paton was seriously chuffed by it, who wouldn't be.
And it's true, Pilot are often thrown into this 70ies Chinn-Chapman or Martin-Coulter (BCR, Kenny, Slik) hit machine assembly line bag, but that is not them at all, they were serious musicians playing and writing their own songs.
Paton not only played and sang on all those Alan Parsons Project releases, but also followed Dee Murray's footsteps and became Elton John's bassist in the 80ies. That's not the kind of job you get for just a pretty face. That fretless bass on Nikita is him.
Nor would Rick Wakeman be playing with someone just on his teeny bopper hit credentials alone ...