Billy Preston: the 'fifth beatle' who saved Let It Be, played with the Rolling Stones and recorded with Manuel Wirtz

09/02/2021 6:58 AM

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Updated 09/02/2021 1:23 PM

On September 2, 1946,

Billy Preston was

born in Houston, Texas,

the brilliant keyboardist

whose image took on special relevance when he

appeared as a true "fifth beatle"

at the

Let it Be

sessions

, and also at the famous "rooftop concert. "Which at the time was the last live performance of The Beatles.  

But far from being exhausted in those days, his career includes other milestones, such as having accompanied the pioneer Little Richard, Ray Charles or The Rolling Stones;

and having composed with Bruce Fisher

the song

You're So Beautiful

, popularized by Joe Cocker

.

The musician - who died in 2006 at the age of 59 due to kidney problems - also had his own peak in popularity as a soloist with the

1969

song

That's the Way God Planned It

, which gave its name to the homonymous album,

produced by beatle George Harrison

and released by the Apple label, owned by the popular group, for which he formed

a luxury band with Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Ginger Baker

.

Billy Preston on the terrace of the Apple Corps building, at the latest "live" performance of The Beatles.

Photo Capture Video

However, his image was immortalized forever when he appeared as a special guest at The Beatles sessions of

Let it Be

, which included the famous concert on the terrace of Apple's offices, the last public appearance of the mythical group, where he left his stamp on classics like

Get Back 

and

Don't Let Me Down

.

This omnipresent figure throughout the entire process of creating the album was particularly striking because it was

the only time that the Liverpool quartet added one more member

almost permanently and shared the credits.

let it be _naked let it be naked documentary music group beatles music groups documentaries

Preston participated in

Let It Be

 at the invitation of Harrison

, who believed that in the presence of an old acquaintance of the group, also a bearer of a remarkable good character, internal tensions would loosen and the music of the quartet would unite, which until then seemed to reflect the discomfort internal.

"Nobody gets to argue in front of the guests," George confessed years later when he recognized the reasons why he had summoned Preston.

The beatle who suffered from the bad weather and the lack of musical direction was not mistaken, because

the keyboardist permeated the atmosphere with his enthusiasm

and became the great spare wheel that gave new vigor to the jaded quartet.

Billy Preston was invited by George Harrison to "decompress" the work environment during the recording of Let It Be.

Photo Capture Video

The good chemistry between the keyboardist and The Beatles had emerged in 1962, when the still little-known Liverpool group performed as the opening number for rock and roll star Little Richard, who had a precocious Preston in their ranks.

In those years, the musician who

learned to play at the age of three on

his mother's

lap

, and who trained in gospel, blues and soul choirs, also collaborated with Ray Charles.

But Preston's precocity had already been publicly manifested even before, when he accompanied several bluesmen when he was only ten years old or when at twelve he participated in the musical film

St. Louis Blues

.

At the time when he was shown as a "fifth beatle" he had a great hit, the aforementioned

That's The Way God Planned It

, a ballad halfway between soul and gospel for which he had gathered around his Hammond organ. Harrison and Clapton, on guitars;

rolling stone Keith Richards, on bass;

and Cream drummer Ginger Baker.

Billy Preston added his keyboard to The Beatles and also to The Rolling Stones.

Photo Capture Video

Perhaps as gratitude for the invitation to join The Beatles and for having produced his solo album, Preston was one of the first artists to say present at the charity

Concert for Bangladesh

, organized by Harrison in 1971.

In another of his great milestones, in those years the musician

added his keyboards to those of Nicky Hopkins in a series of albums by The Rolling Stones

, in which the mythical band surely displayed the most exciting rock and roll in its long history.

Exile on Main St.

,

Goats Head Soup

 and

It's Only Rock and Roll

are just a few examples.

Towards the middle of 1975, in the middle of

collaborations for the Jackson Five

, Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin and Sly Stone, among others;

wrote the classic

You're So Beautiful

for Joe Cocker.

Video: An anthological version of "You're So Beautiful", the hit co-written by Billy Preston

The keyboardist, with Joe Cocker and Patti Labelle

He also had the curious achievement - only dimensioned in time by the large number of figures who passed by there - of having been the first musical guest on the screen debut of the historic New York humorous series

Saturday Night Live

.

It was also in those years, precisely in 1974, that his name

was immortalized in the title of a song by Miles Davis

, who especially dedicated it to him by including it on his album

Get Up with It

.

Billy Preston, the "fifth beatle" in the George Harrison tribute, who added him to the band.

Photo Capture Video

And it was his electrifying performance of

Get Back

, personified as

Sargent Pepper

, the only salvageable moment - along with

Aerosmith's

Come Together -

in the failed

1978

musical

Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

, riddled with

figures performing classics from The Beatles

.

Damn addiction

In the 1980s, Preston fell into

a strong addiction to alcohol and cocaine

that shortened his career, until he was convicted and forced to start rehab in 1991,

after setting fire to his own house in Los Angeles

to collect money from the safe.

Since then, he has resumed his career with appearances with Clapton, Ringo Starr, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Elton John and the Argentines

Manuel Wirzt and Juana la Loca, who had him as a guest

on their respective albums

Magia

, 1994, and

Vida Modelo

, of 1997.

However, years of abuse had taken a toll on his health and he had to battle kidney failure that even

led to a transplant in 2002

.

Billy Preston does the classic "My Sweet Lord" in the Concerto for George Harrison

The keyboardist leads the singing voice, along with Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and Jeff Lynne, among other figures

Until his death in 2006, Preston left his stamp on the

concert in tribute to his friend George Harrison

, who died in 2001;

on Eric Clapton's album with JJ Cale;

and toured alongside Stevie Winwood, among other activities.

But his image always gave a glimpse of the lively young man with the ever-ready smile, who had the privilege of joining a prestigious quartet of stratospheric fame that gave him the privilege of being

one of the very few special guests

who were admitted to their doorstep. intimacy throughout its short and phenomenal trajectory.

Source: Télam / Hernani Natale

ES

Look also

Beatles vs.

Rolling Stones: a rift that never existed but is still open

The Beatles recharged: what the new special edition of Let It Be will be like on its 50th anniversary