Billy Preston

1946 – 2006 (60)

← Billy Paul Blue Magic →

THE FIFTH BEATLE WITH HANDS THAT MOVED LIKE GOSPEL FIRE

He walked into a recording studio with the Beatles in 1969 and played the Hammond organ on Let It Be, and when the song was released it became the only Beatles single credited to another artist on the label. "The Beatles with Billy Preston" was the billing, and the pianist from Houston had earned that credit by playing a part that the Beatles themselves could not find. Paul McCartney had been struggling with the solo -- he wanted something that sounded like church, like testimony, like the gospel music that had been playing in Black American churches for generations.

Billy Preston walked in, sat down, and played it in one take. He was twenty-two years old.

The paradox of his gift was that it kept him in the background. Preston was so good at making other people sound better that the biggest acts in the world competed for his time, which meant his own career always took a backseat. He had been a child prodigy playing organ in church at three, backing Mahalia Jackson at ten, sharing a stage with Nat King Cole at twelve, touring with Little Richard as a teenager. By the time he was twenty-five he had played with Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and the Rolling Stones on Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St.. The problem was that everyone wanted him in their band, and nobody wanted to be in his.

Will It Go Round in Circles is the one. Released in 1972, the song went to number one and proved that Preston could front a band as well as he could support one. The piano riff is built around a simple figure that repeats and builds, creating a momentum that feels like a spiral staircase. The vocal is joyful in a way that gospel singers understand -- not happiness, but release.

I Wrote a Simple Song (1971)

He followed it with Space Race and Nothing from Nothing, both hits that proved he could command the charts.

Billy Preston died in 2006 at fifty-nine. The obituaries listed the landmark albums he had played on, but the real story was what he had shown every musician who came after him: that playing behind someone else is not a consolation prize. The organist who makes the soloist sound better is doing something harder than playing the solo. Preston spent his life proving that the background was not a lesser place to be.

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Image Credits

1,414 artist portraits across 5 genres (Rock, Jazz, Soul, Blues, Folk). 1,363 sourced from Wikipedia (Creative Commons / Public Domain), 50 from Deezer (promotional artwork).

Full attribution breakdown →

Billy Preston

1946 – 2006 (60)

← Billy Paul Blue Magic →

THE FIFTH BEATLE WITH HANDS THAT MOVED LIKE GOSPEL FIRE

He walked into a recording studio with the Beatles in 1969 and played the Hammond organ on Let It Be, and when the song was released it became the only Beatles single credited to another artist on the label. "The Beatles with Billy Preston" was the billing, and the pianist from Houston had earned that credit by playing a part that the Beatles themselves could not find. Paul McCartney had been struggling with the solo -- he wanted something that sounded like church, like testimony, like the gospel music that had been playing in Black American churches for generations.

Billy Preston walked in, sat down, and played it in one take. He was twenty-two years old.

The paradox of his gift was that it kept him in the background. Preston was so good at making other people sound better that the biggest acts in the world competed for his time, which meant his own career always took a backseat. He had been a child prodigy playing organ in church at three, backing Mahalia Jackson at ten, sharing a stage with Nat King Cole at twelve, touring with Little Richard as a teenager. By the time he was twenty-five he had played with Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and the Rolling Stones on Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St.. The problem was that everyone wanted him in their band, and nobody wanted to be in his.

Will It Go Round in Circles is the one. Released in 1972, the song went to number one and proved that Preston could front a band as well as he could support one. The piano riff is built around a simple figure that repeats and builds, creating a momentum that feels like a spiral staircase. The vocal is joyful in a way that gospel singers understand -- not happiness, but release.

I Wrote a Simple Song (1971)

He followed it with Space Race and Nothing from Nothing, both hits that proved he could command the charts.

Billy Preston died in 2006 at fifty-nine. The obituaries listed the landmark albums he had played on, but the real story was what he had shown every musician who came after him: that playing behind someone else is not a consolation prize. The organist who makes the soloist sound better is doing something harder than playing the solo. Preston spent his life proving that the background was not a lesser place to be.

Albums

I Wrote a Simple Song (1971)

I Wrote a Simple Song (1971)

The Kids & Me (1974)

The Kids & Me (1974)

Other Works

16 Yr. Old Soul (1962)

This Sunday-In Person (1962)

The Most Exciting Organ Ever (1964)

Early Hits Of 1965 (1965)

Wildest Organ In Town! (1966)

Hymns Speak From the Organ (1966)

That’s the Way God Planned It (1969)

Encouraging Words (1970)

Organ Transplant (1970)

I Wrote a Simple Song (1971)

Music Is My Life (1972)

Everybody Likes Some Kind of Music (1973)

The Kids & Me (1974)

It’s My Pleasure (1975)

Billy Preston (1976)

A Whole New Thing (1977)

Behold! (1978)

Late at Night (1979)

Universal Love (1980)

The Way I Am (1981)

Billy Preston & Syreeta (1981)

Pressin' On (1982)

On The Air (1984)

Ministry Of Music (1985)

You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down (1986)

Styles

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Image Credits

1,414 artist portraits across 5 genres (Rock, Jazz, Soul, Blues, Folk). 1,363 sourced from Wikipedia (Creative Commons / Public Domain), 50 from Deezer (promotional artwork).

Full attribution breakdown →