Billy Preston

Billy Preston, 1971

Billy Preston (born September 2, 1946 in Houston , Texas , † June 6, 2006 in Scottsdale , Arizona ) was an American soul musician , singer, pianist and Hammond organ player. Preston started playing the piano when he was three. He has worked with some of the greatest in the music industry: the Beatles , the Rolling Stones , Little Richard , Ray Charles , George Harrison , Eric Clapton , Bob Dylan , Sam Cooke , Sammy Davis Jr. , Sly Stone , Aretha Franklin , the Jackson Five , Quincy Jones and the Red Hot Chili Peppers . Because of his collaboration with the Beatles, Preston has been known as the " fifth Beatle ".

biography

As a child, Preston played the church organ in Los Angeles , where he first reenacted the organist's improvisations in the Grace Memorial Church of God in Christ after the services and took his position at the age of 10. In 1956 he accompanied Mahalia Jackson on the piano in a television show and then on a tour. In 1958, he played the young blues composer Will Handy in the feature film St. Louis Blues .

In 1962 he came to Europe for the first time with Little Richard and appeared in Hamburg in the Star Club with the still unknown Beatles. He then accompanied Sam Cooke and Ray Charles, among others .

In addition to his work as a guest musician, he has been recording his own records since the mid-1960s, some of which were able to place singles in the charts (for example, Will It Go Round in Circles [a US number one 1973], Nothing from Nothing [a US number one 1974], With You I'm Born Again [duet with Syreeta from the movie The Chance of a Lifetime , 1979]). Together with Bruce Fischer and Dennis Wilson (text) he wrote the elegiac You Are So Beautiful , which was later successfully covered by Joe Cocker . The title is one of the most frequently covered songs in pop music.

The style of his solo projects developed over the course of his career. Was it first from Ray Charles and gospel music -inspired R & B - instrumentals , it was transformed in the 1970s into a danceable Artists fast soul music . His duets with Stevie Wonder's ex-wife Syreeta Wright , on the other hand, were slow ballads.

Preston played with the Beatles on their albums Let It Be and Abbey Road . The last time the Beatles performed on the roof of the Apple House in London's Savile Row , he played the electric piano . He continued the collaboration with the individual Beatles (except Paul McCartney ) on their solo paths and took part in the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh and in 2002 the Concert for George in the Royal Albert Hall .

Billy Preston (left) with George Harrison and US President Gerald Ford (right) on December 13, 1974

With the Rolling Stones Preston played on the albums Sticky Fingers , Exile on Main St. , Black and Blue and Goats Head Soup as a guest musician. He also accompanied her as a keyboard player on the 1973 European tour, where he played in the supporting band with Stones guitarist Mick Taylor and also recorded a live album. In the Rolling Stones concerts, Preston rounded off the band's performances with his musical contributions. On the US tour in 1975 and the European tour in 1976 Preston took such a prominent place in the band that his hits Nothing from Nothing and Outta-Space were played in concert. His lascivious show together with Mick Jagger also caused a stir on both tours because of its homoerotic echoes.

Preston was later no longer involved in projects of the Rolling Stones. In 2001 he played the Clavinet for the single Just Because of Nikka Costa . As an accompanying keyboardist and organist, he also regularly went on tour with Eric Clapton , most recently on Clapton's European tour in 2004, which also took him to Germany. Among other things, Preston was involved in the recordings of Eric Clapton's project Sessions for Robert Johnson . He also worked with artists as diverse as Aretha Franklin , Sly & the Family Stone and Bob Dylan and was also involved in the last CD by Ray Charles ( Genius Loves Company from 2004).

The unmistakable style of his Hammond organ playing, which was characterized by virtuoso glissandi and sensitive melody, made him a sought-after session musician and was honored in 1996 by Joe Cocker with the joint album Organic .

Preston was convicted of drug possession in 1992 and had gone through rehab. Years of abuse of alcohol and other drugs had damaged his health, and his kidneys were not fully functional. A transplant in the early 2000s did not change that. In 1997 he was sentenced to three years in prison for violating probation conditions .

On November 21, 2005, due to high blood pressure and complications such as kidney failure, he fell into a coma from which he never woke. He died on June 6, 2006. As one of his last works, he is on the album Stadium Arcadium of Red Hot Chili Peppers on the song Warlocks to hear he recorded in a critical state of health. Eric Clapton, on whose album The Road to Escondido Preston was the last to appear, dedicated the song Back Home to him on June 6, 2006 at a concert in Leipzig with the words “This one is for Billy”.

Discography

Albums

year	Title music label	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	R&B
1965	The Most Exciting Organ Ever Vee-Jay VJS 1123	-	-	-	-	US143 (3 weeks) US	R&B5 (7 weeks) R&B	First published: 1965
1966	The Wildest Organ in Town Capitol ST 2532	-	-	-	-	US118 (6 weeks) US	R&B9 (8 weeks) R&B	First published: 1966
1969	That's The Way God Planned It	-	-	-	-	US127 (12 weeks) US	-	First published: 1969
1970	Organ Tansplant Pickwick SPC 3315	-	-	-	-	-	-	First published: 1970
1971	I Wrote A Simple Song	-	-	-	-	US32 (38 weeks) US	R&B9 (22 weeks) R&B	First published: 1971
	Encouraging words	-	-	-	-	-	R&B50 (2 weeks) R&B	First published: 1971
1972	Music is my life	-	-	-	-	US32 (35 weeks) US	R&B7 (33 weeks) R&B	First published: 1972
1973	Same / Buddah BDS 7502	-	-	-	-	-	-	First published: 1973
	Everybody Likes Some Kind of Music	-	-	-	-	US52 (18 weeks) US	R&B3 (17 weeks) R&B	First published: 1973
1974	Live European Tour	-	-	-	-	-	-	First published: 1974
	The Kids & Me	-	-	-	-	US17 (14 weeks) US	R&B8 (18 weeks) R&B	First published: 1974
1975	It's my pleasure	-	-	-	-	US43 (14 weeks) US	R&B18 (9 weeks) R&B	First published: 1975
1977	A Whole New Thing	-	-	-	-	-	R&B49 (5 weeks) R&B	First published: 1977
1978	Behold! Myrrh Records MYR 1070	-	-	-	-	-	-	First published: 1978
1980	Late at night	-	-	-	-	US49 (18 weeks) US	R&B73 (2 weeks) R&B	First published: 1980
	Universal Love Myrrh Records MYR 1080	-	-	-	-	-	-	First published: 1980
1981	Billy Preston & Syreeta	-	-	-	-	US127 (9 weeks) US	R&B48 (5 weeks) R&B	First published: 1980 Billy Preston & Syreeta

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	R&B
1969	Get back	DE1 (14 weeks) DE	AT1 (12 weeks) AT	CH1 (11 weeks) CH	UK1 (13 weeks) UK	US1 (12 weeks) US	-	First release: 1969 The Beatles with Billy Preston
	That's The Way God Planned It That’s The Way God Planned It	-	-	-	UK11 (10 weeks) UK	US62 (16 weeks) US	-	First published: 1969
	Don't let me down	-	-	-	-	US35 (4 weeks) US	-	First release: 1969 The Beatles with Billy Preston
1971	My Sweet Lord Encouraging Words	-	-	-	-	US90 (3 weeks) US	R&B23 (8 weeks) R&B	First published: 1971
1972	Outa-Space I Wrote a Simple Song	-	-	-	UK44 (3 weeks) UK	US2 gold (17 weeks)US	R&B1 (15 weeks) R&B	First published: 1972
	The Bus I Wrote a Simple Song	-	-	-	-	-	R&B43 (2 weeks) R&B	First published: 1972
	I Wrote a Simple Song I Wrote a Simple Song	-	-	-	-	US77 (5 weeks) US	-	First published: 1972
	Slaughter	-	-	-	-	US50 (8 weeks) US	R&B17 (10 weeks) R&B	First published: 1972
1973	Will It Go Round In Circles Music Is My Life	-	-	-	-	US1 gold (22 weeks)US	R&B10 (16 weeks) R&B	First published: 1973
	Space Race Everybody Likes Some Kind of Music	-	-	-	-	US4th gold (18 weeks)US	R&B1 (15 weeks) R&B	First published: 1973
	You're So Unique Everybody Likes Some Kind of Music	-	-	-	-	US48 (8 weeks) US	R&B11 (12 weeks) R&B	First published: 1973
1974	Nothing from Nothing The Kids & Me	-	-	-	-	US1 gold (18 weeks)US	R&B8 (17 weeks) R&B	First published: 1974
	Struttin ' The Kids & Me	-	-	-	-	US22 (10 weeks) US	R&B11 (14 weeks) R&B	First published: 1974
1975	Fancy Lady It's My Pleasure	-	-	-	-	US71 (4 weeks) US	R&B23 (10 weeks) R&B	First published: 1975
	Do It While You Can It’s My Pleasure	-	-	-	-	-	R&B58 (7 weeks) R&B	First published: 1975
1976	Get Back [1976]	-	-	-	UK28 (5 weeks) UK	US86 (2 weeks) US	-	First publication: 1976 in USA only placed in 1978
1977	I've Got The Spirit / Do What You Want Billy Preston	-	-	-	-	-	R&B48 (7 weeks) R&B	First published: 1977
	Girl Billy Preston	-	-	-	-	-	R&B44 (12 weeks) R&B	First published: 1977
	Wide Stride A Whole New Thing	-	-	-	-	-	R&B33 (13 weeks) R&B	First published: 1977
1978	I'm Really Gonna Miss You A Whole New Thing	-	-	-	-	-	R&B59 (9 weeks) R&B	First published: 1978
1979	With You I'm Born Again Late at Night	-	-	-	UK2 silver (11 weeks)UK	US4 (29 weeks) US	R&B86 (3 weeks) R&B	First published: 1979 Billy Preston and Syreeta
1980	It Will Come In Time Late at Night	-	-	-	UK47 (4 weeks) UK	-	-	First published: 1980 Billy Preston and Syreeta
	One more time for love	-	-	-	-	US52 (10 weeks) US	R&B72 (7 weeks) R&B	First published: 1980 Billy Preston and Syreeta
1982	I'm Never Gonna Say Goodbye Pressin 'On	-	-	-	-	US88 (3 weeks) US	R&B64 (9 weeks) R&B	First published: 1982

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Web links

Commons : Billy Preston  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Sound carrier by Billy Preston in the catalog of the German National Library
• The Official Billy Preston Website
• “Billy Preston, 59, Soul Musician, Is Dead; Renowned Keyboardist and Collaborator " , New York Times , June 7, 2006
• “The man at the keys” , taz , June 8, 2006

Remarks

1. ↑ according to his website.
2. ^ Siegfried Schmidt-Joos , Barry Graves : Rock-Lexikon. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1973, 2nd edition 1975, reprint 1978, ISBN 3-499-16177-X , p. 279 f., Here: p. 279.
3. ↑ www.imdb.com: St. Louis Blues (1958) . Retrieved September 4, 2016.
4. ↑ www.nytimes.com: Billy Preston, 59, Soul Musician, Is Dead; Renowned keyboardist and collaborator . Retrieved September 4, 2016.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
6. ↑ ^{a b} Music Sales Awards: UK US