Billy Preston (1946-2006)Billy Preston died today. He is probably best know as being the only person who was not one of the Fab Four to be credited on a Beatles album. But his career was amazing and it was long.
His met George Harrison at the age of fifteen while touring as the keyboard player for Little Richard. Being the same age, George and Billy became friends. George spent the next four years playing with Sam Cooke and being on that Shindig show that you need to be over fifty to understand.
The next time that Billy toured England he was playing with Ray Charles. At that time the Beatles were in the midst of recording Let It Be. George felt that recording this album had become a "very unhappy chore" due to the infighting of the band at the time. He decided to bring Billy in for two reasons: the first was that since it was originally supposed to be a "live" recording with no overdubbing they could use a keyboarder and secondly, he hoped that having an outsider around would mitigate the jerkish behavior of his band mates.
To some extent it worked. The Get Back single was credited as "The Beatles with Billy Preston." He can also be seen playing with the band in the rooftop concert, the last time the Beatles appeared live together.
After the Beatles Billy went on to play with the Rolling Stones. He appears on the albums Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, Goat's Head Soup, as well as a few more less awesome albums. He toured as an opener with Stones and eventually played with the Stones. By 1975 he was playing two of his own songs in the middle of the concert while being backed by the Rolling Stones. In 1977, Billy parted ways with the Stones over some money issues.
During this period Billy will always be known in trivia circles for being the first musical guest on Saturday Night Live (1975), writing Joe Cocker's hit song, You are so Beautiful (1970), and winning a Grammy for his instrumental album Outta Space (1973).
During the 1970's he also played on many extremely well know and critically acclaimed albums such as Sly and the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On and Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks.
The 1980's were not a good time for Billy. He was in and out of rehab (cocaine and alcohol) and jailed for insurance fraud (he set his own house on fire). In early 1990, he resumed touring with Eric Clapton. Throughout the 90's he recorded and played live with Harrison, Ringo Starr, The Band (he was the Stan Szelest replacement), and recorded four solo albums.
He died today after being in a coma since November. He had had a kidney transplant that had failed. Below are some of the amazing albums that this man played on. Billy, rest in peace.
His met George Harrison at the age of fifteen while touring as the keyboard player for Little Richard. Being the same age, George and Billy became friends. George spent the next four years playing with Sam Cooke and being on that Shindig show that you need to be over fifty to understand.
The next time that Billy toured England he was playing with Ray Charles. At that time the Beatles were in the midst of recording Let It Be. George felt that recording this album had become a "very unhappy chore" due to the infighting of the band at the time. He decided to bring Billy in for two reasons: the first was that since it was originally supposed to be a "live" recording with no overdubbing they could use a keyboarder and secondly, he hoped that having an outsider around would mitigate the jerkish behavior of his band mates.To some extent it worked. The Get Back single was credited as "The Beatles with Billy Preston." He can also be seen playing with the band in the rooftop concert, the last time the Beatles appeared live together.
After the Beatles Billy went on to play with the Rolling Stones. He appears on the albums Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, Goat's Head Soup, as well as a few more less awesome albums. He toured as an opener with Stones and eventually played with the Stones. By 1975 he was playing two of his own songs in the middle of the concert while being backed by the Rolling Stones. In 1977, Billy parted ways with the Stones over some money issues.
During this period Billy will always be known in trivia circles for being the first musical guest on Saturday Night Live (1975), writing Joe Cocker's hit song, You are so Beautiful (1970), and winning a Grammy for his instrumental album Outta Space (1973).
During the 1970's he also played on many extremely well know and critically acclaimed albums such as Sly and the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On and Bob Dylan's Blood On The Tracks.The 1980's were not a good time for Billy. He was in and out of rehab (cocaine and alcohol) and jailed for insurance fraud (he set his own house on fire). In early 1990, he resumed touring with Eric Clapton. Throughout the 90's he recorded and played live with Harrison, Ringo Starr, The Band (he was the Stan Szelest replacement), and recorded four solo albums.
He died today after being in a coma since November. He had had a kidney transplant that had failed. Below are some of the amazing albums that this man played on. Billy, rest in peace.
- Let It Be (The Beatles)
- All things Must Pass (George Harrison)
- John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band (piano on "God")
- Sticky Fingers (Rolling Stones)
- Concert for Bangla Desh (G. Harrison and friends)
- There's a Riot Goin' On (Sly and the Family Stone)
- Exile on Main Street (Rolling Stones)
- Ringo (Ringo Starr)
- Goat's Head Soup (Rolling Stones)
- It's Only Rock and Roll (Rolling Stones)
- Blood on the Tracks (Bob Dylan)
- Black and Blue (Rolling Stones)
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the movie (played Sgt. Pepper)
- Choose Love (Ringo Starr)
- Stadium Arcadium (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
...and Samuel L. Jackson will play him in the movie.
ReplyDeleteMy own little music-trivia tidbit to add: While Preston wrote most of "You Are So Beautiful" himself, and probably deserved the full songwriting credits he got for it, he did seek out ideas for some of the finishing touches during an all-night party/jam. Among the musicians present were Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night, Gerry Beckley of America and Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys.
Also... I don't know where you got the release date (1970) for "You Are So Beautiful." According to my information, Preston wrote it in '74 and Cocker released his recording of it in 1975.