Will It Go Round In Circles? Born On This Day- September 2nd... William Everett Preston

Billy Preston was one of the greatest keyboard players in pop music, & probably the greatest session player of the modern era. Preston is one of several people sometimes referred to by outsiders as a 5th Beatle. At one point during the Get Back sessions, John Lennon actually proposed the idea of having him as the "5th Beatle" (Paul: “It was bad enough with 4 Beatles”) Preston first met The Beatles in 1962 while part of Little Richard's touring band, when The Beatles manager- Brian Epstein (who was gay) organized a Liverpool show, which The Beatles opened.

Are you able to resist this song?

They would meet again in 1969, when The Beatles were on the verge of breaking up while recording the last album to be released, Let It Be (they would later record Abbey Road which was released before to Let It Be). George Harrison had quit & walked out of the studio & gone to a Ray Charles concert in London, where Preston was playing organ. Harrison brought Preston back to the studio, where his keen musicianship & gregarious personality calmed the tension, & recording continued.


Preston was a child prodigy on piano & organ. By the age of 10 he was performing in the bands of gospel singers Mahalia Jackson & Andrae Crouch. At age 12 he began a side career acting, & appeared in the film St. Louis Blues, playing blues composer W.C. Handy as a young man. In the 1960s he performed with Little Richard & Ray Charles. In the mid-1960s, he was a regular on my much loved musical variety series- Shindig! as a member of the show's house band. Preston collaborated with & recorded with: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Band, Nat King Cole, Barbra Streisand, Little Richard, Eric Burdon, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, Sammy Davis JR., Aretha Franklin, the Jackson 5, Quincy Jones, Mick Jagger, Sly Stone, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Red Hot Chili Peppers & Ringo Starr. He played the Fender Rhodes electric piano & the Hammond organ.

Preston was the very 1st musical guest on the 1st show of a brand new TV show- Saturday Night Live (along with the still closeted- Janis Ian. He wrote Joe Cocker’s biggest hit- You Are So Beautiful, Me & Mrs Jones (which is in my repertoire...always a hit in my act) & he had a string of solo & duet hits in the 1970s that were so infectious that I can still hear the groovy hooks: Outa-Space, Will It Go Round In Circles, Space Race, one of my favorite songs of the era- Nothing From Nothing, & the duet with Syreeta Wright- With You I’m Born Again (which I want to be sung at my wedding to James Franco).


It was well known in the music industry that Billy Preston was gay, with a penchant for young male hustlers. He died at age 59, in 2006, of complications of malignant hypertension.



He had a very distinctive & recognizable keyboard style.I was always a very big fan of his work as a session player & solo artist. Here is a zany coincidence with me & Billy Preston : Preston began his recording career as a solo artist with the 1965 album- The Most Exciting Organ Ever, the very same year that I released my 1st single, the swingin’- Steve’s Most Exciting Organ...Ever!.