Billy Preston
William Everett Preston was an American keyboardist, singer, and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, backing Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, the Everly Brothers, Reverend James Cleveland, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones. He gained attention as a solo artist with hit singles "That's the Way God Planned It", the Grammy-winning "Outa-Space", "Will It Go Round in Circles", "Space Race", "Nothing from Nothing", and "With You I'm Born Again". Additionally, Preston co-wrote "You Are So Beautiful", which became a hit for Joe Cocker.
Preston is one of very few musicians to be given a credit on a Beatles recording, which was done at the band's request; the group's 1969 single "Get Back" was credited as "The Beatles with Billy Preston". He is one of several people referred to as a fifth Beatle. Preston continued to record and perform with George Harrison after the Beatles' breakup, along with other artists such as Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones on many of the group's albums and tours during the 1970s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
Life and career
Early life
Preston was born September 2, 1946, in Houston but moved to Los Angeles as a child with his mother Robbie Lee Williams. A child prodigy, Preston was self taught, never having had a music lesson. By the age of ten, he was playing organ onstage backing gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson. At 11, Preston appeared on Nat King Cole's NBC TV show singing the Fats Domino hit "Blueberry Hill" with Cole. He appeared in St. Louis Blues, the 1958 W. C. Handy biopic starring Cole; Preston played Handy at a younger age. In 1960, he became a pianist for Andraé Crouch with the Church of God in Christ Singers, which first recorded the smash gospel hit "The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power".In 1962, Preston joined Little Richard's band as organist, and while performing in Hamburg he met the Beatles. In 1963, he played the organ on Sam Cooke's Night Beat album and released his debut album, 16 Yr. Old Soul, for Cooke's SAR label. In 1965, he released the album The Most Exciting Organ Ever and performed on the rock and roll show Shindig! In May or June 1965, he had a session with Little Richard and Jimi Hendrix in New York City, yielding the soul classic "I Don't Know What You've Got". In 1967, he joined Ray Charles' band. Following this exposure, several musicians began asking Preston to contribute to their sessions.
The Beatles
Preston is among those sometimes known as the "Fifth Beatle". After befriending the group in 1962, Preston joined the Get Back sessions in January 1969. At one point John Lennon proposed the idea of having Preston join the band; Paul McCartney countered it was difficult enough reaching agreements with four. Preston played organ and electric piano for the Beatles during several of the Get Back sessions; some of these sessions appeared in the film Let It Be and on its companion album. Footage of their collaboration appeared in the 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back directed by Peter Jackson. Preston accompanied the band on electric piano for its rooftop concert, the group's final public appearance. In April 1969, their single "Get Back" was credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston", the only time an artist was credited as a co-performer with the Beatles after the band started recording as independent artists. The credit was bestowed by the Beatles to reflect the extent of Preston's presence on the track; his electric piano is prominent throughout and he plays an extended solo. Preston also worked, in a more limited role, on the 1969 Abbey Road album, contributing organ to the tracks "I Want You " and "Something".In 1978, he appeared as Sgt. Pepper in Robert Stigwood's film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was based on the Beatles' album of the same name, and sang and danced to "Get Back" as the penultimate song.
Post-Beatles solo career
Signed to the Beatles' Apple label, in 1969, Preston released the album That's the Way God Planned It, produced by George Harrison, the title song from which was a hit single in Britain. His association with Harrison continued after the Beatles' breakup in 1970; Preston was the first artist to record Harrison's subsequent international hit "My Sweet Lord", on his 1970 album Encouraging Words, which Harrison co-produced with him. He appeared on several of Harrison's 1970s solo albums, starting with All Things Must Pass; made a notable contribution to the Concert for Bangladesh, the Harrison-organized 1971 charity benefit; performed with the ex-Beatle on his 1974 tour of North America; and played at the 2002 Concert for George tribute, held at Royal Albert Hall. Preston worked on solo releases by Lennon and Ringo Starr.In 1971, Preston left Apple and signed with Herb Alpert's A&M Records. The previous year, he contributed to another hit single when Stephen Stills asked to use Preston's phrase "if you can't be with the one you love, Love the One You're With", a song on Stills's self-titled debut solo album.
Following the release of I Wrote a Simple Song on A&M, Preston's solo career peaked at this time, beginning with 1972's "Outa-Space", an instrumental track that further popularized the sound of the clavinet in funk music. The song reached number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topped Billboard's R&B chart, before going on to win the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. "Outa-Space" sold over 1 million copies in America, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA in June 1972. Later that year, Preston contributed the title song to the hit blaxploitation film Slaughter starring Jim Brown.
Over the next two years, Preston followed up with the US chart-topping singles "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing from Nothing", and the number 4 hit "Space Race". Each of the three singles sold in excess of one million copies. American Bandstand host and executive producer Dick Clark enjoyed "Space Race" so much that he used the instrumental for the mid-show break for virtually the remainder of its run.
From 1970, Preston played keyboards for the Rolling Stones, sometimes alongside pianists Nicky Hopkins and Ian Stewart, on their albums Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St., Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock 'n Roll and Black and Blue. As the band's primary touring keyboardist from 1973 to 1977, he performed as a support act with his own band on their 1973 European tour. A Munich performance from this tour was documented on Preston's album Live European Tour 1973. In 1974, along with Bruce Fisher, one of his regular songwriting collaborators in the 1970s, he composed one of Joe Cocker's biggest hits, "You Are So Beautiful". On October 11, 1975, he was the first musical guest on Saturday Night Lives series premiere episode. Preston's 1973 song "Do You Love Me" was the basis for the Rolling Stones' track "Melody", released on Black and Blue in 1976. Although two of his songs were included in the band's 1975 and 1976 live sets, the Stones and Preston parted company in 1977, mainly due to a disagreement over money. He continued to play on solo records by Stones members like Mick Jagger's Wandering Spirit, and made appearances on the band's Tattoo You and Bridges to Babylon.
After seven years with A&M, he signed with Motown. In 1979, he duetted with Syreeta Wright on the ballad "With You I'm Born Again", which reached number 4 on the charts in the US. Preston's career lost momentum in the 1980s, during which he became addicted to cocaine and alcohol. He left Motown in 1984 and focused on session work, contributing to works by artists such as Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston and Patti LaBelle, among others. He served as musical director for Nightlife, a late-night talk show hosted by David Brenner that lasted one season from 1986 to 1987.
Preston toured with Eric Clapton, recorded with Gary Walker, one of the vocalists in his Los Angeles-based band, and worked with a wide range of other artists. He toured with Ringo Starr, appearing on his 1990 live album. He was invited to become a member of The Band in 1991, after the death of piano player Stan Szelest. He performed on tour with the group, but the sentencing from his cocaine and sexual assault charges in 1991 ended the collaboration.
Later work
In 1997, Preston recorded the album You and I, in Italy, with Italian band Novecento. The album was produced by Vaughn De Spenza and Novecento members Lino and Pino Nicolosi. In 1998, Preston played organ during the choir numbers on the UPN comedy show Good News. The same year he sang and played synthesizer in the film Blues Brothers 2000, as part of the Louisiana Gator Boys supergroup.On November 29, 2001, while touring and fighting his own health problems, Preston received the news that George Harrison had died, after a long illness. Preston, among many of Harrison's longtime friends, performed in the 2002 Concert for George at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Preston's performance of "My Sweet Lord" received critical acclaim. Additionally, he sang "Isn't It a Pity", provided backing vocals on most of the other songs, and played the Hammond organ for the show.
In 2002, Preston appeared on the Johnny Cash album American IV: The Man Comes Around, playing piano on "Personal Jesus" and "Tear-Stained Letter".
In 2004, Preston toured with the Funk Brothers and Steve Winwood in Europe, and then with Clapton in Europe and North America. After the Clapton tours, he went to France, where he was featured in one episode of the Legends Rock TV show. His performance included a duet with Sam Moore on "You Are So Beautiful"; this was Preston's last filmed concert.
In 2004, Preston performed as a jazz organist on Ray Charles's Genius Loves Company, an album of duets, on the song "Here We Go Again" with Charles and Norah Jones.
In March 2005, he appeared on the American Idol fourth-season finale. Playing piano, he performed "With You I'm Born Again" with Vonzell Solomon. The same year, he recorded "Go Where No One's Gone Before", the main title song for the anime series L/R: Licensed by Royalty.
Preston played clavinet on the song "Warlocks" for the Red Hot Chili Peppers album Stadium Arcadium. Although very ill by this point, he jumped out of his bed after hearing a tape of the song given to him by the band, recorded his part, and went back to bed. Preston's final recorded contributions were the gospel-tinged organ on the Neil Diamond album 12 Songs, and his keyboard work on The Road to Escondido by Eric Clapton and J. J. Cale.
In late 2005, Preston made his last public performance, in Los Angeles, to publicize the re-release of the 1972 documentary film The Concert for Bangladesh. He played a set of three Harrison songs—"Give Me Love", "My Sweet Lord" and "Isn't It a Pity"—with Dhani Harrison and Starr joining on guitar and drums, respectively, for the last song.