Billy Preston - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

William Everett Preston was born on September 9, 1946 in Houston, Texas. When he was three, the family moved to Los Angeles where Preston began playing piano while sitting on his mother Robbie's lap. Noted as a child prodigy, by the age of ten, Preston was playing organ onstage backing several gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson, James Cleveland and Andrae Crouch. At twelve, he appeared in the W.C. Handy biopic starring Nat King Cole entitled, St. Louis Blues, playing W.C. Handy at a younger age. A year prior, Preston appeared on Cole's national TV show singing the Fats Domino hit, "Blueberry Hill".

In 1962, Preston joined Little Richard's band as an organist and it was while performing in Hamburg that Preston met The Beatles. In 1963 he played the organ on Sam Cooke's Night Beat album and released his debut album, 16 yr Old Soul, that same year for Cooke's SAR Records label. In 1965, he released the album The Most Exciting Organ Ever, and that same year played organ and performed on the rock and roll show, Shindig!. In 1967, he joined Ray Charles' band. Following his exposure with Charles, several musicians began asking Preston to come to sessions, most notably The Beatles, who asked him to contribute to two of their albums, Abbey Road and Let It Be.