Billy Preston
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Billy Preston
Billy Preston in 1974
Billy Preston in 1974
Background information
Birth name William Everett Preston
Born September 2, 1946(1946-09-02)
Houston, Texas, U.S.[1]
Died June 6, 2006 (aged 59)
Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.
Genre(s) Rhythm and blues, rock, soul, funk
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, session musician, bandleader
Instrument(s) Keyboards, organ, piano, electric piano, vocals
Years active 1950s—2005
Label(s) Derby, Vee-Jay, Capitol, Buddah, A&M, Motown
Associated acts Sam Cooke, The Beatles, Sly & the Family Stone, King Curtis, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton

William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American soul musician from Houston, Texas, raised mostly in Los Angeles, California. In addition to his successful, Grammy-winning career as a solo artist, Preston collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Nat King Cole, Little Richard, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, King Curtis, Sammy Davis Jr., Sly Stone, Aretha Franklin, the Jackson 5, Quincy Jones, Richie Sambora, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. He played the Fender Rhodes electric piano and the Hammond organ on the Get Back sessions in 1969.

Although Preston is one of several people sometimes credited as a "Fifth Beatle", he is one of two non-Beatles (the other being Tony Sheridan) to receive label performance credit on any Beatles record.

Contents

Early career

Preston began playing piano while sitting on his mother's lap at age three, and he was considered something of a prodigy on piano and organ. By the age of ten he was performing in the bands of gospel singers Mahalia Jackson and James Cleveland. At age 12 he appeared in the 1958 Paramount Pictures film St. Louis Blues, portraying blues composer W.C. Handy as a young man. In the 1960s he performed with Little Richard and Ray Charles. He also began a recording career as a solo artist with the 1965 album The Most Exciting Organ Ever. He was also a regular on the mid-1960s ABC-TV musical variety series Shindig! as a member of the show's house band.

"The Fifth Beatle"?

He met The Beatles while on tour in Little Richard's band in 1962. The then-unknown Beatles were the opening act. The Washington Post explained their subsequent meeting:

They'd hook up again in 1969, when The Beatles were about to break up while recording the last album they released, Let It Be (they would later record Abbey Road, which was released prior to Let It Be). George Harrison, always Preston's best Beatles buddy, had quit and walked out of the studio and gone to a Ray Charles concert in London, where Preston was playing organ. Harrison brought Preston back to the studio, where his keen musicianship and gregarious personality temporarily calmed the tension.

In bootlegged "Let It Be" session tapes, one can hear several heated arguments between John Lennon and Paul McCartney about making Preston a group member (Lennon was all for it) McCartney said there is no point since the group was near its end anyway. In the event, "Get Back," the only Beatles single[2] to enter the British charts at No.1, was credited to "the Beatles with Billy Preston" – the one and only time the band shared the spotlight with a sideman. Preston also accompanied the Beatles during their famous rooftop gig in London, the Beatles' last public performance.[3]

He went on to play on their 1970 Let It Be album and on the songs "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Something", from 1969's Abbey Road.

Post-Beatles

Signed to the Beatles' Apple label, in 1969, Preston released the album That's the Way God Planned It and a single of the same name (produced by George Harrison). His relationship with Harrison continued after the breakup of The Beatles; he was the first artist to record "My Sweet Lord", in his album Encouraging Words (Harrison's own version of the single hit number one in the U.S. and the UK and was the first number one by a former Beatle after they disbanded) and he was on several of George's 70s solo albums. Preston also made notable and energetic contributions to The Concert for Bangladesh, a Harrison-organized charity concert, toured with Harrison on his 1974 tour of North America and, after George's death, The Concert for George. Preston also worked on solo recordings by two other ex-Beatles, John Lennon and Ringo Starr.

His solo career also 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 #2 in the U.S. and won the Grammy award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Over the next two years, he followed up with the #1 hits "Will It Go Round In Circles" and "Nothing From Nothing", and the #4 hit "Space Race". American Bandstand host and executive producer Dick Clark enjoyed "Space Race" to the extent that he used the instrumental for the mid-show break for virtually the remainder of its run.

After the Beatles, Preston played keyboards for the Rolling Stones, alongside pianist Nicky Hopkins. Preston appears on the Stones' albums Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock'n Roll and Black and Blue. He toured as a support act on their 1973 European Tour and recorded his live album Live European Tour 1973 in Munich with Mick Taylor on guitar. In 1974 he composed one of Joe Cocker's biggest hits You Are So Beautiful. On October 11, 1975, he was a musical guest on Saturday Night Live's series premiere episode (along with Janis Ian). Also in that year, and in 1976, he again toured with the Stones. This time he played two of his own songs, backed by the Stones, in the middle of every concert. The Stones and Preston parted company in 1977, mainly due to a row over money. He continued to play on solo records by Stones members and made appearances again on the Stones' 1981 Tattoo You and 1997 Bridges to Babylon albums.

The 1980s were leaner years for Preston. He had a hit single in 1980 with Syreeta Wright with the ballad "With You I'm Born Again" that reached number four on the charts. He was arrested and convicted for insurance fraud after setting fire to his own house in Los Angeles [1], and he was treated for alcohol and cocaine addictions. In 1991, Preston was arrested in Los Angeles after physically attacking a teenage transvestite prostitute after he discovered that the prostitute wasn't adult and wasn't a woman. After going over a drug test, he tested positive for cocaine. That year, he entered no-contest pleas to the cocaine and assault charges. He was sentenced to nine months at a drug rehabilitation center and three months of house arrest.

Preston managed to conquer his problems in the early 1990s, toured with Eric Clapton, and recorded with a wide range of artists. He also toured with Ringo Starr and appeared on the 1990 live album Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band. He was also invited to become a member of The Band in 1991, after the death of their piano player, Stan Szelest. He completed a tour, but his above-mentioned legal problems put an end to the collaboration before they had a chance to record together in the studio.

While touring and fighting his own health issues, Preston received the devastating news that on 29 November 2001, his longtime bandmate, friend and guitarist of the 1960s, George Harrison had died after a long battle with cancer. Preston, among many of Harrison's longtime friends, performed in the 2002 Concert for George in London, England, to play a tribute song.

Preston participated in the tribute concert Concert for George at the Royal Albert Hall and his performance of My Sweet Lord has received critical acclaim. Preston played the Hammond Organ for the show and sang "Isn't It A Pity" and "My Sweet Lord" plus backing vocals to most of the songs. Ringo Starr called him one of the greatest Hammond players of all time (in the theatrical version of the concert). He toured with The Funk Brothers and Stevie Winwood in Europe in early 2004 and then with his friend Eric Clapton in Europe and North America. It has been claimed that his big contribution to the Beatles' sound was made clear with the release of the Let It Be... Naked album.

In 2005 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 released in 2006. Although very ill 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 [2]. Preston's final 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 March of 2005, Preston appeared on the American Idol's fourth season finale. Playing piano, he performed "With You I'm Born Again" with Vonzell Solomon, who finished in third place.

Preston made his last public appearance in late 2005 at the Los Angeles press junket for the re-release of the Concert for Bangladesh movie. He was in good spirits and talked to many in the press. Afterwards he played a three song set of Give Me Love, My Sweet Lord and Isn't It a Pity which featured Dhani Harrison on guitar and Ringo Starr on drums for the final song only.

There still remains an unreleased CD of Beatles covers that he had been working on for several years before his death. Many tracks from this CD were previewed by him at The Fest For Beatles Fans shows in the years before his death.

Death

Preston had battled kidney disease in his later years, brought on by his hypertension. He received a kidney transplant in 2002, but his health continued to deteriorate. He died on June 6, 2006 in Scottsdale, Arizona, of complications of malignant hypertension that resulted in kidney failure and other complications. He had voluntarily entered a drug rehabilitation clinic in Malibu, Calif., and suffered pericarditis there, leading to respiratory failure that left him in a coma since November 21, 2005.[4] His funeral was held on June 20 at the Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California. Preston was interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.

Trivia

 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. (June 2007)
Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles.
  • He was the first artist to enter the UK Singles Chart at number one with his debut playing keys on The Beatles' "Get Back".
  • Preston co-wrote the song "You Are So Beautiful" with Bruce Fisher, made famous by Joe Cocker.
  • Miles Davis titled a song "Billy Preston" in his honor.
  • He appeared as Sgt. Pepper in the film version of the Beatles album and had a cameo appearance in the film "Blues Brothers 2000".
  • Along with Janis Ian, he was a musical guest on the first episode of Saturday Night Live. Years prior to having appeared on "SNL", Preston was keyboardist for the weekly music TV show Shindig!.
  • He is quoted as saying, "I do believe that God has his hands on me and that he has work for me to do."
  • Billy Preston's mother was not Ernestine Wade, who played Kingfish's wife Sapphire Stevens on the "Amos 'n' Andy" radio and TV shows. This unfounded rumor surfaces from time to time.
  • His song "Outa-Space" was in the 1978 playlist of the game Driver: Parallel Lines.
  • He was possibly the inspiration for the name of Alex Winter's character, Bill S. Preston, Esq., in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
  • His song "Outa-Space" was used in the hit TV series of My Name Is Earl in the season 2 episode "Sticks and Stones".
  • His song "Nothing from Nothing" was used in a season 2 South Park episode, "The Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka".
  • "Nothing from Nothing" was also used in the trailer for Be Kind Rewind, a film directed by Michel Gondry.

Selected discography

Billboard Pop Singles Chart (US)

  • 1969 - #62 "That's the Way God Planned It"
  • 1972 - #77 "I Wrote a Simple Song"
  • 1972 - #2 "Outta Space" (Grammy Award winner)
  • 1972 - #50 "Slaughter"
  • 1972 - #62 "That's the Way God Planned It" {re-release}
  • 1973 - #1 "Will It Go Round in Circles"
  • 1973 - #4 "Space Race"
  • 1974 - #1 "Nothing from Nothing"
  • 1974 - #48 "You're So Unique"
  • 1975 - #71 "Fancy Lady"
  • 1975 - #22 "Struttin'"
  • 1978 - #86 "Get Back"
  • 1980 - #4 "With You I'm Born Again" (duet with Syreeta Wright)
  • 1980 - #52 "One More Time For Love"
  • 1982 - #88 "I'm Never Gonna Say Goodbye"
  • 1986 - #42 "Great Gosh A'Mighty (Been A Long Time Comin')" (co-written with Little Richard - from the hit motion picture 'Down And Out in Beverly Hills'. Little Richard - vocal.)

Solo albums

Gospel albums

  • (1962) Sixteen Years Old Soul
  • (1965) Hymns Speak from the Organ
  • (1973) Gospel In My Soul (Re-edition of Hymns Speak from the organ)
  • (1978) Behold!
  • (1980) Universal Love
  • (1994) Ministry of Music
  • (1995) Minister of Music
  • (1996) Words and Music
  • (2001) Music From My Heart

As a guest/session performer

References

  1. ^ "Court Motion". Retrieved on 2008-04-30.
  2. ^ according to at least one chart
  3. ^ "'Fifth Beatle' Billy Preston Made the Greats Even Greater", Washington Post (June 8, 2006). Retrieved on 2008-06-28. 
  4. ^ "Billy Preston, 59, Soul Musician, Is Dead; Renowned Keyboardist and Collaborator", New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-06-28. "Billy Preston, the splashy gospel-rooted keyboardist whose career included No. 1 solo hits and work with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, died yesterday in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 59." 

External links
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