[Slowhand] Billy Preston - Something from nothing

[Nick Morris]

If your a Billy Preston fan you might find this interesting.

Nick M


http://www.suntimes.com/output/rock/cst-ftr-preston14.html


Something from nothing 

July 14, 2004

BY DAVE HOEKSTRA Staff Reporter Advertisement

As Ray Charles lay dying from liver cancer last month at Cedars-Sinai
Hospital in Los Angeles, keyboardist Billy Preston was staying in the same
hospital. Preston had a bacterial infection that hindered his weekly kidney
dialysis. Preston underwent a 2002 kidney transplant.

Preston's illness knocked him out for three weeks on as keyboardist on the
current Eric Clapton tour. Preston returned last week and will be on board
Saturday night when Clapton performs at the United Center.

That's the way God planned it.

ERIC CLAPTON, ROBERT RANDOLPH AND THE FAMILY BAND
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday 
Where: United Center, 1901 W. Madison 
Tickets: $49.50-$85 
Call: (312) 559-1212 
  
Nearly 35 years ago Charles anointed Preston as his successor, saying
onstage, "Billy is the man I would like to carry on the work I started."
Preston met Charles while they were taping the mid-1960s "Shindig!" music
series. Preston played with Charles for three years and was featured on the
Genius of Soul's 1966 record "Crying Time."

Preston was too sick to attend Charles' funeral. "I wanted to be there so
bad," Preston said last week before a Clapton stop in Columbus, Ohio. "Ray's
manager came by to see me in the hospital, which lifted me up."

This has been a tough summer for Preston, 57.

Last week, his singing partner Syretta Wright died after a long battle with
cancer. She was 58. Preston and Wright had a 1980 hit on "With You I'm Born
Again," which originally appeared on that year's "Fast Break" soundtrack.

"This has been a sad period," Preston said. "It took me a while to get over
Ray, and now Syretta. But the spirit is always alive. It's shocking to think
I won't see Ray again. I'll always honor his name. Before I met Ray, he
lived around the corner from my school [John Muir Junior High in Los
Angeles], and I'd go by his house all the time. None of the other kids knew
he lived there. Nobody was as crazy about him as me."

Preston was born in Houston but reared in Los Angeles. His mother, Robbie
Preston Williams, played piano for the 100-voice choir of the Victory
Baptist Church in Houston. At age 10 Preston played with Chicago gospel
legend Mahalia Jackson. But Charles was always close to the family's
collective heart. 

"My mom had [Charles classics] 'Hallelujah! I Love Her So' and 'I've Got a
Woman.' It sounded like gospel music. I was playing in church and my mom was
playing in church. I used to imitate him," he said with a Charles-like
growl.

Preston last saw Charles in late May before he went on tour with Clapton.
Preston plays with Gladys Knight and Norah Jones on "Genius Loves Company,"
the all-star Charles duet album, due Aug. 31 on Concord Records. Charles,
Preston and Jones lead off the 12-track record with "Here We Go Again." The
album was recorded at Charles' studio in Los Angeles and also includes
Willie Nelson and Charles tackling "It Was a Very Good Year."

"Ray was very weak, but he was a very strong man in terms of humor and
character," Preston said. "Everything he did, he made it his."

Preston has done the same thing.

Of course, he is known as "The Fifth Beatle" for his work on the Beatles'
"White Album," "Abbey Road" and "Let It Be," but Preston was also a sideman
on the Rolling Stones 1975 tour, and he toured with Sammy Davis Jr. He wrote
Joe Cocker's hit "You Are So Beautiful."

Preston met Clapton in 1969 when he recorded "That's the Way God Planned
It," his Apple Records debut. "George Harrison called him in to play on my
sessions," Preston said. "That was the first time I met Eric, and we've been
friends since."

Preston also joined the Band in 1976 when they all played behind Clapton on
his "No Reason to Cry" album.

Don't expect Preston to play any solo hits such as "Outa-Space" and "Will It
Go Round in Circles" with Clapton. "I don't have to work as hard as I would
like and I don't know if I'm physically able to do so," he said. "I have my
solos, and it's a joy playing with this band." Clapton's band includes Texas
guitarist Doyle Bramhall II and longtime bassist Nathan East.

Preston's organ playing is reminiscent of Jimmy Smith in the way he delivers
hard bass lines with his feet and fluid solo lines from his right hand.
Preston is also easygoing when the topic turns to Beatle questions.
"Musically, my favorite moment was on the roof [of Apple Studios, 3 Savile
Row in London] for 'Let It Be,' " Preston said. "That was the last time they
played together. It was John's idea. He wanted to play for everybody."

Preston has strong Chicago ties. During the mid-1970s he toured Europe with
Billy Preston and the God Squad. Members of the God Squad later broke off to
form the Brothers Johnson ("Light Up the Night") and the Chicago-based
Rufus. After embarking on a 1962 European tour as Little Richard's
keyboardist (with Chicagoan Sam Cooke as opening act), Cooke signed Preston
to his SAR/Derby label, where he recorded "The 16-Year-Old Soul." "I did my
first album when I was 16," Preston said. Chicago's Vee-Jay Records (the
first American home of the Beatles) next approached Preston in 1966. He cut
the instrumental album "The Most Exciting Organ Ever!," later released on
Capitol Records.

Life has been more than exciting for Preston.

He was placed on a five-year probation after pleating no contest to assault
with a deadly weapon and cocaine possession in 1992. In November 1997 he was
sentenced to three years in prison after testing positive for the drug while
on probation. While in prison in 1998, he also pleaded guilty to having
taken part in an insurance scam that dated to the early 1990s. "Everything
that has happened to me, I say, 'That's the way God planned it,' " Preston
said. "The ups and the downs. That's life. You have to go through it to get
to it."

Next up for Preston are the dual releases of an all-gospel album and a
Beatle tribute album with new songs Preston wrote in memory of John Lennon
and George Harrison. (Both will be available in the fall at
www.billypreston.net). In 1972, Preston released Lennon and McCartney's
"Blackbird" as a single on A&M Records. "I've learned so much from all the
lessons I've been through," Preston said. "It's given me so much music,
too."



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