Billy Preston was born on this day in 1946.

Preston was a keyboardist, singer, and songwriter whose work encompassed many genres of music.  He was R&B, rock, soul, funk, and even gospel. 

Preston started off at the age of 10 playing keyboards for gospel legend Mahalia Jackson. Later he joined Ray Charles’ touring band before recording with The Beatles on several of their tracks including “Get Back” and “Let It Be” (The Beatles considered him to be the fifth Beatle). He also played on a number of Sly & The Family Stone recordings and went on to have a successful solo career with five Top 10 US hits.

He was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, backing artists like Little Richard, Sam Cooke, the Everly Brothers, the Rolling Stones! He also made a name for himself as a solo artist. Today let’s look at two of his hits.

Will It Go Round in Circles

This funky soul number was Billy Preston’s first #1 solo single. The virtuoso keyboardist, who was credited on the Beatles’ “Get Back” and joined them for their iconic 1966 rooftop concert, was briefly signed to the Fab Four’s Apple Records but found success with a switch to A&M Records. Music Is My Life was Preston’s second album on the LA-based label; his first, I Wrote A Simple Song, yielded the Grammy Award-winning instrumental “Outa-Space, which narrowly missed the #1 slot.

This was born out of a joke Preston made to his songwriting partner, Bruce Fisher, about having a song but no melody. The comment inspired the opening refrain, “I got a song that ain’t got no melody, I’m gonna sing it to my friends,” and set up similar proclamations, such as having a story with no moral and having a dance with no steps.

Nothing From Nothing

Billy Preston started writing this one night in the dressing room of an Atlanta nightclub where he was performing. He wanted to write a song based on the saying, “Nothing from nothing leaves nothing,” a variation on Bob Dylan line: “When you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose.”

“The saloon piano gave it character,” Preston explained, “and I had a feeling it would be a hit because it was a singalong kind of thing.”

Bruce Fisher, who was Preston’s songwriting partner (he co-wrote “Will It Go Round In Circles”), added a second verse.

Fun Fact: The B-side of the single was another song Preston wrote with Fisher: “You Are So Beautiful,” which was later a hit for Joe Cocker.

Bonus Fun Fact: “Nothing From Nothing” was the first song performed on Saturday Night Live. Preston and Janis Ian were the musical guests on the October 11, 1975 debut of the show.

The later years of his life were plagued by substance abuse, health issues and legal issues.  In 1997 he was sent to prison on drug charges. He suffered from kidney disease and hypertension.  In 2005, he voluntarily entered a drug rehab center where pericarditis led to respiratory failure.  He was in a coma from November of 2004 until he died in June of 2006 at age 59.