Billy Preston

From BeatlesWiki

Billy Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American rhythm and blues musician from Houston, Texas raised mostly in Los Angeles, California.[1] In addition to his successful, Grammy Award-winning career as a solo artist, Preston collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and Ringo Starr.

Preston first met The Beatles in 1962 while part of Little Richard's touring band, when their manager Brian Epstein organized a Liverpool show, at which The Beatles opened.

He was invited to join up with The Beatles during the Get Back sessions in 1969, at the behest of George Harrison. Ostensibly his remit was to provide a live keyboard on the "no overdubs" session, although his presence also served to subdue the in-fighting prevalent in the sessions. (He played the Fender Rhodes electric piano and the Hammond organ.)

Preston also worked (in a more limited role) on the Abbey Road album, contributing to the tracks "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Something."

When The Beatles issued "Get Back"/"Don't Let Me Down" in 1969, Preston became the only session man to be credited alongside the group on the record billing.

He was subsequently signed to Apple Records, and recorded two albums in collaboration with George Harrison, which spawned a number of trailer singles including "That's The Way God Planned It" and the first recording of Harrison's "My Sweet Lord".

During the 1970s, Preston released a solo version of "Get Back" and in 1978, appeared as Sgt. Pepper in Robert Stigwood's film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was very loosely based on The Beatles' album of the same name. He also worked on session by all four solo Beatles at some stage after the group disbanded.