A few days ago Billy Preston died. He was a huge musical talent who left his imprint on pop music. He was born on September 9th 1946 in Houston, Texas but raised in Los Angeles. By the age of 2 he was playing piano. His mother was the organist for Victory Baptist Church and he was asked to direct the choir. At the age of 10 he played organ for Mahalia Jackson when she appeared at his church. Watching the performance was the producer of the movie “St. Louis Blues.” He cast the 10 year old in the film as a young W.C. Hardy, the man who became known as the father of the blues.
In 1962 Preston was signed to Sar Records owned by Sam Cooke. He went on a Gospel tour with Cooke and Little Richard. However, when they got to England they found that Gospel wasn’t very big there. The kids wanted to hear rock and roll. For the first time Billy Preston played rock and roll and he liked it. It was during this tour that he first met the Beatles. They asked him lots of questions about America and their favorite artist Little Richard. When he got back to the States he played the club circuit. While at a club in LA he was spotted by a TV producer and he got the part as the resident keyboard player on Shindig. Ray Charles once heard Preston play “Georgia On My Mind” and asked him to play it on his next album. Preston toured with Charles and when they were in Europe Charles introduced Billy as the man he wanted to carry on the work that he started. It was at a concert at the Royal Festival Hall where George Harrison caught up with Billy. He asked him to play keyboards on the Get Back sessions. At those sessions
Paul told Billy he should do an organ solo. It became one of the best keyboard solos in music history. The sessions for the album were filmed as the movie “Let It Be” making it Billy Preston’s second movie role. When the single “Get Back” was released Billy became the 2nd of only two people to have his name on a record with the Beatles as it was billed as The Beatles with Billy Preston. The other person to do that was Tony Sheridan. Sheridan got top billing as he was more popular at the time and the Beatles were just starting out. During an interview Billy said “I didn’t even know until it was out that they had put my name on it. It was something that I could have never asked for or no manager could have negotiated, just something they felt for me.” The Beatles signed Billy to Apple Records. He recorded an album for them and was backed up by George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Keith Richard. The Beatles Empire started to fall and they let Billy out of his contract. He then signed with A&M where he had his first #1 single “Will It Go Round In Circles?” In researching this article I thought it was ironic that the two #1 records that preceded his were “My Love” by Paul McCartney and Wings and “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)” by George Harrison. It was Billy who knocked Harrison out of the #1 spot. Preston went on to record other hit songs and inspired more. The song by George Harrison “What Is Life?” was written with Billy in mind. He also was the bright spot in the film “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” in his third film role. In the movie he sang a song he knew very well. It was “Get Back.” Billy Preston left behind an incredible musical legacy.
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