The late Billy Preston: Beatles' sideman, songwriter, hit-maker, movie star
Written: Aug 09 '06 (Updated Oct 08 '06)
Product Rating:
Pros: Million-selling hits: "Will It Go Round In Circles," "Nothing From Nothing," "Outa-Space" and "Space Race."
Cons: None
The Bottom Line: 14 Hot 100 chart hits, the original version of "You Are So Beautiful," two fabulous Beatles' covers, and duets with Syreeta --- nearly 75 minutes of music on one CD.
Don_Krider's Full Review: Ultimate Collection by Billy Preston
Billy Preston was a songwriter, performer, hit-maker and actor. He died in June of 2006 at the age of 59 after a long illness.
He had many hits of his own, played on the last three Beatles studio albums, and wrote the Joe Cocker mega-hit You Are So Beautiful (since covered by Perry Como, Tanya Tucker, Babyface, and dozens of other artists).
In the 1960's, Ray Charles, who became friends with Billy Preston while taping the mid-'60s TV series Shindig, took Preston on tour with him for three years.
Charles, who became Preston's mentor and had him play on the Charles' album Cryin' Time in 1966, announced on stage one night in the 1960's, "Billy is the man I would like to carry on the work I started." I think Ray Charles chose the right man for the job.
There's a CD anthology of his work, Billy Preston: Ultimate Collection, which I highly recommend for both the fan and the newcomer to the man and his recorded work.
Billy Preston
Born in Houston, Texas, on September 2, 1946 (according to his official website at billypreston.net, which notes that previously published newspaper accounts of his death had the wrong date of birth), Billy Preston grew up in Los Angeles and attended John Muir Junior High School.
He would later tell tales of walking past Ray Charles' home as a kid, since the singer's house was near the school. According to various sources, Billy Preston was a huge fan of Ray Charles.
Legend also has it that while on a tour backing singer Little Richard in the early 1960's, Preston made sure the singer's opening act, a then-penniless group of newcomers from Liverpool known as The Beatles, got something to eat.
The Beatles later returned the favor, using Preston's keyboard work on their so-called White Album (aka "The Beatles") in 1968. Preston also played on two additional Beatles' albums, Abbey Road in 1969 and Let It Be in 1970 (both albums recorded in 1969).
So close was Preston to The Beatles as a band and on later solo recordings, that fans of the band have called him "the fifth Beatle" ever since.
Preston was personally signed by Beatles' guitarist George Harrison to The Beatles' own label, Apple Records. He also played at Harrison's legendary Concert For Bangladesh (which was filmed and later released as a motion picture).
He is the only musician ever listed on a Beatles' recording's credits with the fab four, as in The Beatles with Billy Preston, and his organ solo on Get Back helped their single of the tune reach #1 for five weeks in 1969.
Preston's 1969 album, That's The Way God Planned It, was produced by George Harrison and features guitar-work by Eric Clapton. Though it didn't chart when originally released, the album was reissued in 1972 and reached #127 in Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart. The title track charted twice as a single, reaching #62 in 1969 and #65 in 1972.
Billy Preston toured and/or recorded with Harrison, John Lennon, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Elton John, Sammy Davis Jr., Nora Jones, Luther Vandross, Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave fame), Enrique Iglesias, Doug Fieger, Sly & The Family Stone, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Carole King, Sam Cooke, Ringo Starr, Gladys Knight, Joe Cocker, Little Richard and Tina Turner, among many others.
Hit singles
Billy Preston co-wrote a little tune called You Are So Beautiful with Bruce Fisher, which was actually originally a love song to Billy's mom. The tune was covered by singer Joe Cocker as a love song to everyone in 1975 for a #5 Billboard magazine chart hit (later covered by Perry Como, Tanya Tucker, Babyface and others).
Preston was the first musical guest on TV's Saturday Night Live in 1975, performing his million-seller Nothing From Nothing, a #1 single from 1974. That single was one of four singles by Billy Preston to earn Gold Record Awards.
His other million-sellers were Outa-Space (#2 in 1972), Will It Go Round In Circles (#1 for two weeks in 1973) and Space Race (#4 in 1973, which later became the theme music for TV's American Bandstand for a number of years).
Among his other Hot 100 singles are My Sweet Lord (a cover of the Harrison hit, it reached #90 in 1971), I Wrote A Simple Song (#77 in 1972), Slaughter (from the film of the same name, #50 in 1972), You're So Unique (#48 in 1974), Struttin' (#22 in 1974-75), Fancy Lady (#71 in 1975), a remake of Get Back (from the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, #86 in 1978) and I'm Never Gonna Say Goodbye (#88 in 1982).
With Syreeta, he had a pair of hit singles on the Billboard pop charts with With You I'm Born Again (from the movie Fast Break, #4 in 1979-80) and One More Time For Love (#52 in 1980).
Preston placed nine long-players in the Billboard Top 200 Albums charts between 1965 and 1981.
Six of those albums made the top half of the LP charts: I Wrote A Simple Song (#32 in 1972), Music Is My Life (#32, 1972), Everybody Likes Some Kind Of Music (#52, 1973), The Kids & Me (#17, 1974), It's My Pleasure (#43, 1975) and Late At Night (#49, 1980).
Movie star
Billy Preston also appeared in films.
He was cast in 1956 to appear in the film St Louis Blues (released in 1958) as young W. C. Handy. Playing the adult W. C. Handy in the film was Nat King Cole (the film's cast also included Eartha Kitt, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Mahalia Jackson and Pearl Bailey, among others).
Nat King Cole apparently liked working with him so much on the film that he also had Preston on his TV show for an appearance in 1957.
Preston also portrayed the good musical sergeant in the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (the 1978 musical film version of The Beatles' album which also starred Peter Frampton and The Bee Gees). You can also see him in the movie Blues Brothers 2000.
His music also appears in such film as Slaughter, Fast Break, Elf, Rush Hour 2, Muppets From Space, To Die For, Time Bandits, Eddie Murphy Raw and Twilight's Last Gleaming (singing My Country, 'Tis Of Thee in that Cold War thriller), among others.
The man
In short, Billy Preston was both an original and he was cool.
In the 1970's, he was the man, the African-American with the giant afro that shook as he played his keyboards, while his huge, infectious smile brightened millions of TV screens during appearances on shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show (he appeared on that show in 1967), American Bandstand, The Midnight Special and Soul Train (yes, I used to watch "sooooooul train" in the 1970's; they had some great acts on that series).
In more recent years, he was the short-haired keyboard player, still giving incredible performances to loving fans in concerts from coast-to-coast.
Billy Preston wanted to bring the people of a diverse world together through music, to bring about peace through a musical groove, so his music incorporated rock 'n' roll, rhythm and blues, funk, gospel, soul, jazz and pop; a little something for everyone.
To try to classify Billy Preston as a specific genre-singer would be an insult. He crossed genres, races, religions and had a universal appeal in his music.
I loved his music and, though I never met him, I will miss him. I take comfort in the fact that his recorded music remains as proof of his unique talents as a singer, as a musician and as an incredible showman.
The best testimony to the greatness of Billy Preston is to be found on the Hip-O/Universal Records CD anthology, Billy Preston: Ultimate Collection.
This CD
Packed with 74 minutes and 38 seconds of music on a single CD, Billy Preston: Ultimate Collection features 20 tracks that span Billy Preston's long career (he had his first hit album in 1965 with the not-so-humble title The Most Exciting Organ Ever, which hit #143 in Billboard).
The digitally remastered recordings sound clear and bring out sounds lost on the original vinyl records. The songs in this collection are from releases on Apple, A&M, Universal and Motown. All of Billy's Hot 100 singles are here (including the wonderful, funky instrumental jams Outa-Space and Space Race).
Included, too, is the original version of You Are So Beautiful, along with gorgeous remakes of two Beatles' classics, Blackbird and Get Back.
The CD comes with a 12-page booklet that features a short biography of the artist and track listings (sadly, no list of personnel on the tracks, however; some members of his early backup band went on to form Rufus). There also are no lyrics in the booklet.
The booklet has several photos spanning the artists career (and the back cover shot of Preston in his prime surrounded by pianos, organs and synthesizers is neat) and overall is fun to look through.
I bought Billy Preston: Ultimate Collection from Amazon.Com recently --- most online retailers have it readily available. I ordered it online because for a long time finding Billy Preston's albums in record stores, other than by special order, has been a problem (retailers love to stock your albums when you're hot, but when an artist hasn't had a hit in a long while they are less likely to stock their albums --- pet peeve of the day).
The tracks
Will It Go Round In Circles, Outa-Space, Slaughter (from the film, Slaughter), I Wrote A Simple Song, That's The Way God Planned It (a live performance), Struttin', Fancy Lady, You're So Unique, Space Race, Get Back (from the movie, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band), Blackbird, Wide Stride and Nothing From Nothing.
Also, I'm Really Gonna Miss You, You Are So Beautiful, With You I'm Born Again (duet with Syreeta, from the film Fast Break), Go For It (duet with Syreeta, also from Fast Break), Since I Held You Close, One More Time For Love (duet with Syreeta) and I'm Never Gonna Say Goodbye.
The best tracks
While there's not a bad track on Billy Preston: Ultimate Collection, some tracks are worthy of special notice.
With You I'm Born Again
Listen to With You I'm Born Again, his duet with Syreeta Wright. I normally don't like it when male and female singers get together to sing a love song --- such events usually sound forced and fake. Not here. The singers here are both convincing and believable. Syretta, who died in 2004, had a wonderful, sweet voice.
On With You I'm Born Again, which hit #4 on the Pop charts (#86 on the R&B charts) in 1979-80 during an amazing 29 weeks in Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart, you get a heavily orchestrated ballad.
Written by David Shire and Carol Conners, it's a slow, romantic, passionate embrace of a song, with the vocalists sounding truly in love. It's truly a gorgeous masterpiece with sensual lyrics:
"Come bring me your softness, comfort me through all this madness, woman don't you know that with you I'm born again..."
Will It Go Round In Circles
But Billy Preston is better-known for the catchy-as-hell melodies and lyrics you have-to-sing type of songs like Will It Go Round In Circles, with its funk-jazz keyboards and horn-driven sounds.
The song, written by Preston and long-time songwriting partner Bruce Fisher, reached #1 for two straight weeks in 1973 on Billboard's Pop charts during a 22-week chart run (peaking at #10 on the R&B charts).
The lyrics are priceless:
"...I've got a song, I ain't got no melody, I'm a-gonna sing it to my friends..., I've got a story, ain't got no moral, let the bad guy win every once in a while, will it go round in circles, will it fly high like a bird up in the sky?..."
Nothing From Nothing
One of my all-time favorite songs, Nothing From Nothing opens with some circus music, then struts into some funky grooves that make you wanna dance and sing along as he sings "don't you remember I told you, I'm a soldier in the war on poverty".
The ragtime piano is gorgeous here, and I just can't help but remember that mountaintop of an afro bouncing up and down as his smiling face sang this tune on countless TV appearances in the 1970's.
Nothing From Nothing hit #1 in 1974 during 18 weeks on the Billboard Pop charts (reaching #8 on the R&B charts). Catchy-as-hell, with an infectious hook and memorable lyrics in another Preston-Fisher composition:
"Nothing from nothing leaves nothing, you gotta have something if you wanna be with me..."
You Are So Beautiful
Singer Joe Cocker hit #5 in 1975 with his cover of the Preston-Fisher tune You Are So Beautiful, but Preston's original 1974 version is so much better than Cocker's remake, and the so-called "King Of The Hammond Organ" plays some lovely keyboards here.
Preston's version is full of gospel choir vocals and soulful rhythm, angelic background harmonies and rich orchestration, an inspirational song originally written for Preston's beloved mother. Here the song could be a love song to a girlfriend, a fiance, a spouse, or any other loved one sung in a church:
"...you are so beautiful to me, can't you see, you're everything that I hope for, and what's more, you're everything I need, you are so beautiful, baby, to me..."
I Wrote A Simple Song
I Wrote A Simple Song reached #77 on the Pop charts in 1972 (then deejays flipped the single over and played the instrumental flipside, Outa-Space, which rose to #2 on the Pop charts).
Written by Preston with Joe Greene, the piano-based, mid-tempo, jazzy number, is the lament of a songwriter who faced the common frustrations of musicians in the music business:
"I wrote a simple song, with simple words and harmony, wasn't very long, for a star I was bound to be, I didn't care if it made the charts, I only wrote it for you and me, they think they're so smart now, they're not as smart as they want to be, they took my simple song, yes they did, they changed the words and the melody, made it all sound wrong, now it sounds like a symphony..."
That's The Way God Planned It
The gospel-sounding That's The Way God Planned It sounds at times like Mott The Hoople's All The Young Dudes in its arrangement as played live on this track, which isn't a bad thing.
The guitar solo acts as an interlude with the lovely sounds of Preston's keyboards on this song with a gentle, Lennon-ish message:
"...just learn how to help one another and live in perfect peace..."
I'm Never Gonna Say Goodbye
When Billy Preston sings a ballad, it's with heart and soul. The arrangements don't sound fake and forced like so many ballads sung by so many singers these days. He truly was the heir to Ray Charles in this arena of song.
The orchestration fits perfectly, with some nice guitar-work and pretty piano at its heart. Here Preston is like any of us trying to deal with a breakup and the end of "true love" --- sometimes it's hard to do:
"...what am I gonna do, having you was all that I ever wanted, where am I gonna go to feel the way I felt inside your arms..."
Though not a major hit, the song did reach #88 on the charts in 1982.
Final recommendation
Billy Preston: Ultimate Collection should have broad appeal. Fans of classic rock, and anyone who just likes good music, should enjoy this. Preston sings from the heart, much like those four kids from Liverpool who adopted him as their friend all those years ago.
Doug Fieger, lead singer of The Knack (who had successful surgery for two brain tumors on August 3, 2006), used Billy Preston's keyboard talents on his solo album, First Things First: http://www.epinions.com/content_166204509828
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