Billy Preston - The Other Fifth Beatle

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and faithful, long time listeners will recall that back in 2024 we aired episode #65.  That Rock and Roll Flashback episode dealt with George Martin, who I nicknamed The Fifth Beatle in appreciation of his production support and keyboard contributions to so many Beatles tunes.  Well, today's podcast episode will be devoted to another man who John Lennon once called [and I quote] "kind of like a Fifth Beatle" [end quote].  Of course, I'm referring to keyboardist and singer Billy Preston, whose career included being a prominent session musician, songwriter, solo artist, and concert performer.  He also just happened to briefly rescue the Beatles as that band was struggling in 1969.  In fact Billy Preston ended up being the only person other than John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr to receive a co-artist credit on a #1 single by the Beatles. 

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott.  The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John.  It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then. 
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Transcript

Thank you for that introduction, and welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and faithful, long time listeners will recall that back in 2024 we aired episode #65.  That Rock and Roll Flashback episode dealt with George Martin, who I nicknamed The Fifth Beatle in appreciation of his production support and keyboard contributions to so many Beatles tunes.  Well, today's podcast episode will be devoted to another man who John Lennon once called [and I quote] "kind of like a Fifth Beatle" [end quote].  Of course, I'm referring to keyboardist and singer Billy Preston, whose career included being a prominent session musician, songwriter, solo artist, and concert performer.  He also just happened to briefly rescue the Beatles as that band was struggling in 1969.  In fact Billy Preston ended up being the only person other than John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr to receive a co-artist credit on a #1 single by the Beatles. 

William Everett Preston was born on September 2nd, 1946, in Houston, Texas.  Musically, Billy was a child prodigy, was self taught on the piano, and never had a music lesson.  At the age of nine he and his mother moved to Los Angeles, California and by the age of ten, he was playing organ onstage backing gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson.  Before his sixteenth birthday young Preston had already sung with Nat King Cole on Cole's NBC TV show, had appeared in the 1958 movie St. Louis Blues, and had become a pianist for Andraé Crouch with the Church of God in Christ Singers.  In 1962, 16 year old Preston joined Little Richard's band as organist.  Brian Epstein arranged for the Beatles to open for some Fall 1962 tour dates on Little Richard's European tour, and that was when Billy Preston first met the Beatles.  In 1963, he played the organ on Sam Cooke's Night Beat album and released his debut album, 16 Yr. Old Soul.  In 1965, he released the album The Most Exciting Organ Ever and performed on the rock and roll show Shindig!.  In 1965, Billy had a session with Little Richard and Jimi Hendrix in New York City, yielding the soul classic "I Don't Know What You've Got".  In 1967, he joined Ray Charles' band.  Following this exposure, several musicians began asking Preston to contribute to their recording sessions.

In January 1969 the Beatles were about to break up while recording the last album they released, Let It Be.  Recording sessions and filming at Apple had begun on January 21st, 1969, but things weren't going well for the band creatively.  A frustrated George Harrison had walked out of the studio and gone to a Ray Charles concert in London, where Preston was playing organ.  Harrison invited Preston to the studio, and on January 22nd Billy provided a creative boost for the sessions.  With Billy present, the atmosphere in the band was markedly improved.  His musicianship and gregarious personality temporarily calmed the tension among the Beatles.  Preston ended up playing organ and electric piano during several of the Get Back sessions.  Some of these sessions appeared in the film Let It Be and on its companion album.  Footage of their collaboration also appeared in the 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back directed by Peter Jackson.  

Then on January 30th, 1969 Billy Preston joined the Beatles on electric piano for their famous rooftop concert.  It would be the Beatles final public appearance.  The five musicians arrived on the rooftop of the Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row around 12:30 pm.  The band played a 42-minute set before the Metropolitan Police arrived and ordered them to reduce the volume.  They performed nine takes of five new songs as crowds of onlookers, many on lunch breaks, congregated in the streets and on the rooftops of nearby buildings to listen.  The concert ended with "Get Back", and John Lennon jokingly said [and I quote] "I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we've passed the audition" [end quote].

The performance was filmed and recorded.  Some of the performance was included on Let It Be, the band's 12th and final studio album, while footage was used in the 1970 documentary film Let It Be.  Additional footage was later used in the 2021 documentary series The Beatles: Get Back.  On January 28th, 2022, the audio of the performance was released by Apple Corps, Capitol Records, and Universal Music Enterprises to streaming services under the title Get Back – The Rooftop Performance.  In April 1969, their single "Get Back" was credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston", the only time an artist was credited as a co-performer with the Beatles after the band started recording as independent artists.  

Here is The Beatles with Billy Preston's studio version of "Get Back":

Billy Preston also worked, in a more limited role, on the Beatles 1969 Abbey Road album, contributing organ to the tracks "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Something".  The Beatles convinced Billy to become an Apple Records artist.  After signing to the Beatles' Apple label, Preston released the 1969 album That's the Way God Planned It.  The LP was produced by George Harrison, and the title song reached #11 in the UK singles chart.  Billy's association with Harrison would continue after the Beatles' breakup.  Preston's 1970 album Encouraging Words, which Harrison co-produced with him, included Harrison's songs "All Things Must Pass" and "My Sweet Lord".  Preston's album came out two months before Harrison's own recordings of the two songs appeared on his triple album All Things Must Pass.  Billy appeared on several of Harrison's solo albums, starting with All Things Must Pass, and contributed to the Harrison-organized charity benefit, the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh.  

[play excerpt from Billy Preston's "Outa-Space"}

In 1971, Billy Preston left Apple and signed with A&M Records.  He went on to enjoy a string of U.S. vocal and instrumental hits on Billboard's Hot 100.  Four of those tunes would end up being certified Gold in sales by the RIAA.  In 1972 the single "Outa-Space" reached #2 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the R&B chart.  In 1973 he had two chart hits: "Will It Go Round in Circles" reached #1 in July on the Hot 100 and #1 in Canada and later in the year "Space Race" hit #4 in the pop chart and #1 on the R&B chart.  Then in 1974 "Nothing from Nothing" became his second chart-topper on the pop chart, reaching #1 on the Hot 100 that October.  In another first, on October 11th, 1975 Billy Preston performed "Nothing from Nothing" on the first episode of Saturday Night Live.  Thus, he had the distinction of having the first musical performance ever on Saturday Night Live.

Here is an excerpt from Billy Preston's version of "Nothing from Nothing":

Billy Preston would continue to have a major influence outside of his solo recording career.  Billy gave Stephen Stills the idea that he turned into the lyrical hook of Stills' 1970 hit "Love the One You're With".  Billy was co-writer of the classic song "You Are So Beautiful," which in 1975 became a Top 5 hit for Joe Cocker.  In 1978, Preston appeared in Robert Stigwood's film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was based on the Beatles' album of the same name.  Billy's role in the movie was that of the magical Sgt. Pepper golden weather vane come to life, and he sang and danced to the song "Get Back".  In 1979 Billy recorded a duet with Syreeta Wright called "With You I'm Born Again".  The song was on the soundtrack of the 1979 motion picture Fast Break and was released by Motown in December 1979.  "With You I'm Born Again" became an international hit for the duo, reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the UK singles chart.

From 1973 on, in addition to his songwriting, his solo career, and session work, he toured with numerous artists especially including the Rolling Stones, but also with George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, The Funk Brothers, and The Band.  In 1998 Billy sang and played synthesizer in the film Blues Brothers 2000, as part of the Louisiana Gator Boys supergroup.  On November 29th, 2001, while touring and fighting his own health problems, Preston received the news that George Harrison had died.  Preston, among many of Harrison's longtime friends, performed in the 2002 Concert for George at the Royal Albert Hall in London.  Preston's performance of "My Sweet Lord" received critical acclaim. Additionally, he sang "Isn't It a Pity", provided backing vocals on most of the other songs, and played the Hammond organ for the show.

Sexually abused as a child, Billy Preston's adult life was filled with personal issues.  Often outwardly upbeat and exuberant, Billy nevertheless struggled to balance his deep religious faith with his life challenges:  coming to terms with being gay, his addiction to drugs and alcohol, his scrapes with the law and his stint in prison.  Preston suffered kidney disease in his later years, brought on by his hypertension. He received a kidney transplant in 2002, but his health would continue to deteriorate, and he died at the age of 59 on June 6th, 2006, in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Billy Preston's material touched upon R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel.  In the 1960's, he gained experience backing artists such as Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Everly Brothers, and the Reverend James Cleveland.  In addition to his Beatles collaborations, Preston worked as a prolific session keyboardist.  A partial list of some of the most iconic performers that he recorded with included Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Sly Stone, Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, the Rolling Stones, Luther Vandross, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and, as previously mentioned, George Harrison.

Billy Preston was nominated for nine Grammy Awards and won two.  He won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for "Outa-Space" at the 15th Annual Grammy Awards in 1973.  He also won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year for his participation in the album The Concert For Bangladesh at the same ceremony.  Billy Preston was inducted posthumously into the Class of 2021 of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Musical Excellence Award.  In 2024 a documentary about his life premiered.  Titled Billy Preston: That's the Way God Planned It, the film was directed by Paris Barclay and, as of 2026, it is still being screened at several locations around the United States.  

Thank you for listening to another episode of Rock and Roll Flashback, where I reviewed the highlights of the career of Billy Preston.  In 2002 Ringo Starr called Preston one of the greatest Hammond organ players of all time.  In another interview Starr said [and I quote] "Billy Preston.  He’s one of the few musicians that never put his hands in the wrong place. Never” [end quote].  I will conclude this podcast with Billy Preston's 1973 #1 hit that peaked in the charts during my personal summer of love:  "Will It Go Round in Circles".  So, fellow travelers, may you avoid going round in circles, may your path be smooth, and your music always be rockin'.  And until next time...Rock On!