Billy Preston: Last Words

Many assume that Billy Preston achieved fame as a result of his association with The Beatles in the late ’60s and early ’70s. But in reality, he emerged as a fully-formed keyboard titan when only 10 years old, playing with gospel superstar Mahalia Jackson in the mid-’50s. At 12, he played the role of the young W.C. Handy in St. Louis Blues, the story of Handy’s life that also starred Nat King Cole. Shortly thereafter, he began touring with Little Richard and Ray Charles. How did he become so musically mature so soon?

“Gospel music was my main inspiration,” Billy told Tom following a performance at A Fest For Beatles Fans only a couple months before Billy fell into a coma in 2005. “My mom played piano in church, and that was my foundation. I listened to lot of gospel organ players. There was one gentleman my Mom took me to see at a nightclub, a man called Earl Grant, and he was a fantastic entertainer. He played organ and piano together, and when I first saw him, I was just amazed by his playing. I went home and moved my piano and organ together so I could play them both at the same time.”

To hear Billy tell it, his meteoric rise was due to happy accidents. “I met Little Richard by accident,” he told us. “I was playing piano at church, and I went to the Deacon’s house to pick up my check. The Deacon had the same house number as Little Richard, but I was on the wrong street. So we knocked, and he answered, invited us in, and we sat and played and sang.”

Making the acquaintance of Ray Charles was similar. “I lived around the corner from him,” said Billy. “I used to go by his house, and once I just rang his doorbell. He came to the door and I had a chance to speak to him then. But it wasn’t really like meeting him until we did Shindig, the television show together. It was a great experience, because I sat in for him on the rehearsals. I had his routine down so well that everybody was bragging about how well I did him. They told him about me, so after the show they had me sing for him. I sang ‘Georgia On My Mind’ for him, and that was a thrill. A few days later, he called and asked me to record and tour with him.” Among the many happy results of this collaboration are Billy’s all-stops-out organ solo on Ray’s mega-hit, “Here We Go Again,” his soulful organ backup on “In the Heat of the Night,” and the live version of “Spirit in the Dark,” which also features Aretha Franklin. Killer tunes, astounding organ.

Another example of Billy’s genius as an accompanist is Sam Cooke’s 1963 release, Night Beat, which was the soul singer’s biggest-selling album. On several tracks, Billy provides subtle support with the Hammond, never outshining Cooke’s voice, yet following the tension and emotion by his skillful use of the drawbars, chorus, and the Leslie. But on Willie Dixon’s famous blues, “Red Rooster,” Billy gets to be the crowing of the rooster, the barking of the dogs, and the howling of the hounds, as well as sharing a great call and response solo section with Raymond Johnson. On “Trouble Blues,” Billy takes a masterful solo, working the drawbars and Leslie all the while.

In the early ’60s, Billy recorded several organ-heavy albums for Vee-Jay, some of which have been re-issued on CD (see sidebar, “The Best of Billy”). But in 1962, while on tour with Little Richard in Europe, he was destined to continue his tradition of opportune meetings. They played at The Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany, and their opening act was The Beatles. George Harrison, who himself was just 16 years old, and the 15-year-old Billy struck up a friendship backstage. George asked Billy to come on stage and play with them, since his organ was already set up, but Billy was afraid that Little Richard would go ballistic if he did.

George seemed to have kept Billy in mind, for when The Beatles were at one of their lowest points, trying to get momentum going with the performance and recording that would become Let It Be, George saw Billy perform with Ray Charles, and grabbed Billy as he came out of the stage door and took him to Apple Studios to play with the band.

“When Billy got on the piano,” George is quoted as saying in several Beatles fan publications, “there was straight away a 100 per cent improvement in the vibe in the room. Billy didn’t know all the politics and the games that had been going on, so in his innocence, he gave a little kick to the band.” The sessions started going so well that John Lennon apparently suggested making Billy a permanent member of the band. Paul McCartney, still frustrated by the lethargy and uncooperative attitudes of his band mates, replied, “It’s bad enough with four!” But the sessions were ultimately successful, and Billy’s contributions are audible primarily on the Let It Be album, particularly on “Let It Be,” “Get Back,” “The One After 909,” “I Me Mine,” “Dig a Pony,” and “Dig It.”

“We were doing several albums at the same time,” Billy told us. “Let it Be, the White Album, and Abbey Road. A couple of tracks here and there. When I joined, they were filming everything, so I thought ‘Wow, what’s going on here?’ But they made me feel comfortable. They said, ‘Join in and play along.’ They treated me as a member of the band, and every morning we’d have breakfast in The Beatles’ office and stuff like that. It was fun.”

The Beatles offered Billy a recording contract, which resulted in the excellent but doomed That’s The Way God Planned It, which due to the subsequent crash and burn of Apple Records never really got the support it deserved. Billy also began recording and touring with the Rolling Stones during this period, ultimately contributing dynamite parts on Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St., Goat’s Head Soup, It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll, and others. “I was free to play what I wanted to play,” he told us. “The Stones were very basic as far as R&B and blues were concerned, but very authentic as far as their blues foundation. They worked very hard at perfecting it. That was the thing I respected about them.”

Subsequent to the fall of Apple, Billy signed with A&M records, and released a series of albums that spent quite a bit of time on the charts and brought him his Grammy for Best Song, 1972 for “Outa-Space.” He also got one for his work on George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh.

A glance at Billy’s four-page discography on www.AllMusic.com will give you an idea of how incredibly busy he was in the years between his Grammy and when he slipped into a coma last year. He continued to keep up an insanely busy touring and recording schedule, right up until the end, even appearing on the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ latest release, Stadium Arcadium. As Tom tagged along with Billy from his marathon autograph signing to a clothes-shopping spree (you never saw such suede coats, slick hats, and other killer threads), he told us how he kept sane through it all. “Never lose the love of the music,” he said. “The music business can get to be a struggle and it’s not always easy, but keep the love of the music and it’ll help you get through it all.” Billy Preston’s love of music comes through on every track he recorded in his prolific but truncated career; honor his memory by spending some time listening to him and you’ll find your own love to be rekindled.