Billy Preston
by: Admin
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Word Count: 294
Date of Birth: September
2, 1946
Date of Death: June
6, 2006
Biography: Best
known as The Fifth Beatle, Billy Preston was a soulful young man who seemed to
have a knack for music since he was three years old. When he was three years
old, Billy was sitting on his mothers lap, and played the piano. This was the
beginning of one of the greats. He was seen as some what of a sensation with
the piano and organ, like it came naturally. When he was 12 he landed a role in
St. Louis Blues, Playing a young
blues composer, W.C. Handy. In the 1960’s Billy performed with the famous Ray
Charles, and Little Richard. Born in
Billy got the title, The
Fifth Beatle being one of the only two non-Beatle musicians who received
credit on The Beatles record label. He played pianist for them, and grew close
to them, gaining him a great deal of recognition. However, Billy didn’t only
play for the Beatles. He worked with many of the well known artists back then
like The Rolling Stones and Eric
Clapton. In 1969, Billy signed to The Beatles record label, and released the
album That’s The Way God Planned It.
Even after the Beatles split up, Billy remained friends with
Tragically, Billy had been struggling with his kidney in his late years, and even after a transplant in 2002 Billy was unable to beat his disease. After being in a coma for approximately 6 months, Billy died after elevated blood pressure caused a kidney failure.
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