William Everett "Billy" Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American soul musician from Houston, Texas, raised mostly in Los Angeles, California. In addition to his successful, Grammy-winning career as a solo artist, Preston collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Nat King Cole, Little Richard, Eric Burdon, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke, King Curtis, Sammy Davis Jr., Sly Stone, Aretha Franklin, the Jackson 5, Quincy Jones, Mick Jagger, Richie Sambora, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. He played the Fender Rhodes electric piano and the Hammond organ on the Get Back sessions in 1969.

Preston was born with the natural gift of music and was a child prodigy on piano and organ. By age ten he was playing keyboards with gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and two years later was featured in Hollywood's film bio of W.C. Handy, "St. Louis Blues," as young Handy himself. In his teens Preston played with other notable artists like Little Richard and Ray Charles plus years later backed up the Beatles, playing keyboards on "Let It Be," "The Beatles" (White Album) and "Abbey Road." He also had the distinction of being in the band at their final live performance on the London rooftop of Apple Corps headquarters on January 30, 1969. Sadly, he passed away on June 6, 2006 after suffering from chronic kidney failure. Preston had been in a coma since November of 2005

Signed to The Beatles' Apple label, in 1969, Preston released the album "That's the Way God Planned It" and a single of the same name (produced by George Harrison). His relationship with Harrison continued after the breakup of The Beatles; he was the first artist to record "My Sweet Lord", in his album "Encouraging Words" (Harrison's own version of the single hit number one in the U.S. and the UK and was the first number one by a former Beatle after they disbanded) and he was on several of Harrison's 1970s solo albums. Preston also made notable contributions to The Concert for Bangladesh, the Harrison-organized charity concert, toured with Harrison on his 1974 tour of North America and, after Harrison's death, The Concert for George. Preston also worked on solo recordings by two other ex-Beatles, John Lennon and Ringo Starr.

His solo career also peaked at this time, beginning with 1972's "Outa-Space", an instrumental track that further popularized the sound of the clavinet in funk music. The song reached #2 on the U.S. Hot 100, #1 on the R&B chart, and won the Grammy award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Over the next two years, he followed up with the #1 hits "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing From Nothing", and the #4 hit "Space Race." American Bandstand host and executive producer Dick Clark enjoyed "Space Race" to the extent that he used the instrumental for the mid-show break for virtually the remainder of its run.

After The Beatles, Preston played keyboards for The Rolling Stones, alongside pianist Nicky Hopkins. Preston appears on the Stones' albums Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock'n Roll and Black and Blue. He toured as a support act on their 1973 European Tour and recorded his live album Live European Tour 1973 in Munich with Mick Taylor on guitar. In 1974 he composed one of Joe Cocker's biggest hits, "You Are So Beautiful". On October 11, 1975, he was a musical guest on Saturday Night Live's series premiere episode (along with Janis Ian). Also in that year, and in 1976, he again toured with the Stones. This time he played two of his own songs, backed by the Stones, in the middle of every concert. Preston's 1973 Do You Love Me was the basis for the Stones' Melody on their 1976 Black and Blue album. The Stones and Preston parted company in 1977, mainly due to a row over money. He continued to play on solo records by Stones members and made appearances again on the Stones' 1981 Tattoo You and 1997 Bridges to Babylon albums. Years later, he appeared as Sgt. Pepper in Robert Stigwood's film version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

While touring and fighting his own health problems, Preston received the news that on 29 November, 2001, his old friend George Harrison had died after a long battle with throat cancer. Preston, among many of Harrison's longtime friends, performed in the 2002 Concert for George in London, England, to play a tribute song. Preston participated in the concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and his performance of "My Sweet Lord" has received critical acclaim. Preston played the Hammond organ for the show and sang "Isn't It A Pity" and "My Sweet Lord" plus backing vocals on most of the other songs. Ringo Starr called him one of the greatest Hammond players of all time (in the theatrical version of the concert). In 2002 he appeared on the Johnny Cash album American IV: The Man Comes Around, playing piano on "Personal Jesus."

He toured with The Funk Brothers and Steve Winwood in Europe in early 2004 and then with his friend Eric Clapton in Europe and North America. It has been claimed that his big contribution to The Beatles' sound was made clear with the release of the Let It Be... Naked album. In 2005 he recorded "Go Where No One's Gone Before", the main title song for the anime series L/R: Licensed by Royalty.

Preston played clavinet on the song "Warlocks" for the Red Hot Chili Peppers album Stadium Arcadium released in 2006. Although very ill by this point, he jumped out of his bed after hearing a tape of the song given to him by the band, recorded his part, and went back to bed.[5] Preston's final contributions were the gospel-tinged organ on the Neil Diamond album 12 Songs, and his keyboard work on The Road to Escondido by Eric Clapton and J. J. Cale. And some of the first tracks on the Reach album by Is'real Benton. In March 2005, Preston appeared on the American Idol's fourth season finale. Playing piano, he performed "With You I'm Born Again" with Vonzell Solomon, who finished in third place.

Preston made his last public appearance in late 2005 at the Los Angeles press junket for the re-release of the Concert for Bangladesh movie. He was in good spirits and talked to many in the press. Afterwards he played a three song set of "Give Me Love", "My Sweet Lord" and "Isn't It a Pity", featuring Dhani Harrison on guitar and Ringo Starr on drums for the final song only.

Starr, a long-time friend, was deeply affected by the loss of Preston and in a recent interview said, "I saw Billy a couple of days before he fell down into the coma. I went to see him, spoke to him, and we were sitting outside in the sun in L.A. Then all hell broke loose and he never came to. But as a musician, there was no finer musician, and as a friend, he was a good friend."

Mick Jagger has also been quoted as saying, "Billy was a fantastic and gifted musician and also a superb singer at both recording sessions and live. He was great fun to be with onstage when touring with us. I will miss him a lot."

Billy Preston was 59 years old.