That's shocking news! Great musician! Saw him on several shows in 1976 with the Stones. RIP Billy!

I'll have to fix that wikipedia article, he doesn't play on Blood on the Tracks.

RIP Billy .
You will NOT be forgotten !!Thanks for your music !
Its indeed very sad news!!

From perhaps my favorite song he played on:

Angels beating all their wings in time
Smiles on their faces & a tear right in their eyes
Thought I heard one sigh for you
Come on up now, come on up now, come on up now...

May the good Lord shine a light on you,
Make every song you sing your favorite tune.
May the good Lord shine a light on you,
Warm like the evening sun

Glam Descendant Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> From perhaps my favorite song he played on:
>
> Angels beating all their wings in time
> Smiles on their faces & a tear right in their
> eyes
> Thought I heard one sigh for you
> Come on up now, come on up now, come on up now...
>
> May the good Lord shine a light on you,
> Make every song you sing your favorite tune.
> May the good Lord shine a light on you,
> Warm like the evening sun

So right! What a song!

sad news indeed. RIP Billy - Shine A Light

Noooooooo man,
If I was reading this 2- months ago I wouldn't know him but now I am a fan of him at least from what I have heard.I will always recommend your work to people who love music.

Nice list but it omits BRIDGES TO BABYLON and WANDERING SPIRIT.

I'm also fairly certain he did not play on BLOOD ON THE TRACKS; I think he's being confused with bass played Billy Peterson.

Preston never played on any Dylan record that I'm aware of - and he certainly didnt play on Blood On the Tracks

I Am listening now LET ME KNOW, and it looks Preston is here at home!!!
see you arriba!!

Great musician - Beatles, Stones, Ray Charles, Clapton, Harrison, etc. all recognized his talent. Let me add one more to BeelyBoy's excellent list - The Clapton "live" CD that came out around 2001 - Billy really shines on a couple of cuts there.

Hope they take that wig off or they'll never shut the casket lid.

Going to listen to Outa-Space right now!

Elmo Lewis Wrote:

> Hope they take that wig off or they'll never shut
> the casket lid.


That's a good one Elmo. I can just see it now, the casket is closed but there's a noticeable amount of hair sticking out from the sides.

There's a picture someone posted with Mick Taylor wearing Preston's wig. Looks kinda like that awful afro Clapton had in the 60's.

country honk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Didn't know he played on Miss You - thought it was
> Mac.....
Its my understanding that Billy and Mick came up with the bass line for miss you during rehersals and back stage during the 76 euro tour. When they actually recorded it Mac played on it, but Billy really gave the stones a disco groove. with out him I dont think Miss you would have happened.

A true talent. R.I.P.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2006-06-06 22:08 by ryanpow.

Here's a somewhat recent picture of Billy Preston, from April 2005.
He sure looks like he's in a good mood.

"Where's Billy? Billy's gone. Billy? Yeah, there's Billy."

- Mick Jagger, introducing Billy Preston on Love You Live

RIP

This article was posted on the Pollstar site, via the AP:

Billy Preston Dies
Updated 10:19 PDT Tue, Jun 06 2006
(The Associated Press - Phoenix)

Billy Preston, the exuberant keyboardist who landed dream gigs with the Beatles and The Rolling Stones and enjoyed his own series of hit singles, including "Outta Space" and "Nothing From Nothing," died Tuesday at 59.

Preston's longtime manager, Joyce Moore, said Preston had been in a coma since November in a care facility and was taken to a hospital in Scottsdale Saturday after his condition deteriorated.

"He had a very, very beautiful last few hours and a really beautiful passing,'' Moore said by telephone from Germany. "He went home good."
Preston had battled chronic kidney failure, and he received a kidney transplant in 2002. But the kidney failed and he has been on dialysis ever since, Moore said earlier this year.

Known for his big smile and towering Afro, Preston was a teen prodigy on the piano and organ, and lent his gospel-tinged touch to classics such as the Beatles' "Get Back" and the Stones' "Can't You Hear Me Knocking?"

He broke out as a solo artist in the 1970s, winning a best instrumental Grammy in 1973 for "Outta Space,'' and scoring other hits with "Will It Go 'Round In Circles," "Nothing From Nothing" and "With You I'm Born Again," a duet with Syreeta Wright.

He also wrote Joe Cocker's weeper, "You Are So Beautiful," and co-wrote with Quincy Jones the score for 1970 movie "They Call Me Mr. Tibbs." Other achievements included being a musical guest on the 1975 debut of "Saturday Night Live," and having a song named after him by Miles Davis. Among his film credits: "Blues Brothers 2000" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

Preston's partnership with the Beatles began in early 1969 when friend George Harrison recruited him to play on "Let It Be," a back-to-basics film and record project that nearly broke down because of feuding among band members. Harrison himself quit at one point, walking out on camera after arguing with Paul McCartney.

Preston not only inspired the Beatles to get along - Harrison likened his effect to a feuding family staying on its best behavior in front of a guest - but contributed a light, bluesy solo to "Get Back," performing the song with the band on its legendary "roof top" concert, the last time the Beatles played live. He was one of many sometimes labeled "The Fifth Beatle."

Preston remained close to Harrison and performed at Harrison's all-star charity event, "The Concert for Bangladesh" and at the "Concert for George," a tribute to Harrison, who died of cancer in 2001. He played on solo records by Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon.

Preston also toured and recorded extensively with the Rolling Stones, playing on such classic albums as Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street. In the mid-'70s, he parted from the Stones, reportedly unhappy over not getting proper credit for "Melody" and other songs. He reunited with the band in 1997 on its Bridges to Babylon record.

His sessions credits included Aretha Franklin's Young, Gifted and Black, Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks and Sly and Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On, three of the most acclaimed albums of the past 35 years.

The Houston native earned his performance chops at age 10 playing the keyboard for gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, and at 12 portraying a young W. C. Handy in the 1958 biopic "St. Louis Blues." He toured with mentors and fellow piano greats Ray Charles and Little Richard in the early 1960s, first encountering the Beatles while on the road in Germany.

...and George Harrison introducing the members of the Concert For Bangladesh band said something like, "Who am I leaving out? (pause)....I forgot Billy Preston!!!"

"In the mid-’70s, he parted from the Stones, reportedly unhappy over not getting proper credit for “Melody” and other songs."

Interesting comment from above, starting to see a pattern here???

MLC

Re: "You Are So Beautiful" - I've read that Beach Boy drummer Dennis Wilson claims he wrote YASB. He performed it many times with the BB before his death in the early 80's. Anybody know the truth on this?




bY THE WAY, IF u HIT THE cAPS lOCK, YOUR WRITING LOOKS LIKE A RANSON NOTE. cOOL, HUH?

inopeng Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "Where's Billy? Billy's gone. Billy? Yeah,
> there's Billy."
>
> - Mick Jagger, introducing Billy Preston on Love
> You Live
>
> RIP


Billy's very open for offers. I wouldn't say UP FOR GRABS, but open for offers.

So sad to hear! They should make a tribute album or show for him.

x



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-12-09 03:01 by Beelyboy.

A great artist, and a wonderful man. The world is a poorer place without him.

I loved his contribution on Ray Charles' duet with Norah Jones "here we go again.

What a great song.

Rip Billy

Thanks ryanpow, I was hoping someone would finish it!

Saw him play with Clapton a few years back...hell of a musician. 'Nothing From Nothing' is one of the songs that I played so much this past year that it will always remind me of my senior year in college. RIP Billy

Very sad indeed. RIP Billy.


(Billy Preston during Goat's Head Soup recording session)

Goodbye, Billy.

At first, I remmeber him as a Stones opening act in 1973. Mick Taylor was his sideman, wearing an afro wig. The last song, Let it Be, was very impressive. Physically impressive, because I was standing at four meters of the stage. Billy Preston looked very tall with his freak suit, his big platform shoes and his wig.

To be a Stones pianist does not bear you good luck : Ian Stewart, Nicky Hopkins and now Billy Preston.