Billy Preston: A Life Like No Other
The Music Was Only Part of His Wild Ride
Most of you know Billy Preston as the keyboard player with the big Afro who played with the Beatles in their famous rooftop concert in 1969. He had a few chart-topping hits of his own in the ’70s, including Will It Go Round in Circles and Nothing from Nothing. In addition to touring and recording with the Rolling Stones for the better part of a decade, he was a central figure in the 1972 Concert for Bangladesh. But his life was a convoluted tapestry of events, both musical and not, that taken in total amounts to one of the more extraordinary journeys on this planet by a human being. Following are eleven things you probably didn’t know about Billy Preston:
He was a star at 11 years old
Self-taught, Preston was a piano prodigy that was backing the great Mahalia Jackson as a 10-year-old. One year later, he appeared as W. C. Handy as a child alongside Nat King Cole in the 1958 movie St. Louis Blues, and appeared on Cole’s TV variety show.
He helped feed the early Beatles while on the road
In 1962, the then-unknown Beatles were on a bill with Little Richard’s touring band, which included Preston. He befriended the Beatles on the tour (they were all teenagers) and upon hearing them complain about the meager food they…
