Preston was a child actor who made his debut in St. Louis Blues and wizard of the organ and the piano. He played for the great Mahalia Jackson when he was only 10 years old. He was 16 years old when he went on tour as pianist for Little Richard. This was followed by a stint with another music great, Ray Charles, who introduced Billy as the man whom he’d like to carry on the music he had started.
To pop music lovers though, Preston will always be remembered as the fifth Beatle. It was George Harrison who informally recruited him into the group by bringing him to the studio while the Beatles were working on the Let It Be album. Billy played keyboard in several cuts and then joined the Fab Four in singing Get Back! When the single was released, the credits read The Beatles with Billy Preston.
Aside from first member Tony Sheridan, Preston was the only other artist to get equal billing in a Beatles recording. Get Back made No. 1 in the hit charts of 1969. It was such a big seller that rumors went around that the Beatles had invited Preston to join them full-time. I do not know if there was ever any truth to that. Besides no one was meant to find out because the Beatles went kaput after Let It Be.
But Get Back became Preston’s song and he even sang it in the movie Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The picture used Beatles songs and starred the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton. The film flopped but Preston’s electrifying performance as Sgt. Pepper was truly its highlight.
Preston came up with other hits of his own over the ensuing years. Among these were Will It Go Round in Circles, Outa-Space for which he won a Grammy, With You I’m Born Again, a duet with Syreeta and others. He wrote songs like You are So Beautiful to Me for Joe Cocker. He also became a most in-demand musician for top acts. He toured and recorded with the Rolling Stones for Sticky Fingers, Black and Blue and Exile on Main Street.
He did studio work with Barbra Streisand, Beatles Harrison and Ringo Starr, Little Richard, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan Sly & the Family Stone, Elton John, Luther Vandross and many others. The last time I came across his name was only two weeks ago, in the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album Stadium Arcadium and in Neil Diamond’s 12 Songs.
Despite his success Preston fell into hard times. He admitted dependency on drugs and alcohol and spent time in jail for insurance fraud. He underwent a kidney transplant in 2002 but it failed and he had to spend the last years of his life on dialysis.
Preston visited the Philippines in 1996 to promote You’re My Everything, a soulful duet he did with Sharon Cuneta. I remember him as quiet, good-natured and ever ready with his gap-toothed smile.
The Time of Our Lives is typical of the inspiring, fight against all odds songs that have come to be associated with sporting events. This started when fans and players adopted the aria Nessun Dorma as unofficial theme of the World Cup held in Italy some years ago. Since then, no World Cup is considered complete without a theme song.
The Time of Our Lives is included in Voices from the FIFA World Cup, the official music album of the event. The star-powered compilation also includes One Moment in Time by Whitney Houston from the Seoul Olympics, Hero by Mariah Carey, Hips Don’t Lie Bamboo by Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean, Praying for Time by George Michael, You Raise Me Up by Westlife, I Believe in You by Il Divo and Celine Dion and others.