July 7

LATimes - Billy Preston, a soul singer and keyboardist with hits such as "Nothing From Nothing" and "Outa-Space" in the 1970s and best known for sitting in on historic recording sessions with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin and Bob Dylan, died Tuesday in Arizona. He was 59. The charismatic prodigy had suffered for years from kidney-related ailments, the result of his longtime drug use.

Preston had a stunning career odyssey that again and again put him in the same room with music history. He was there during the "Let It Be" session with the Beatles and not only made memorable keyboard contributions to "Get Back," but joined them in a London rooftop concert that would turn out to be the iconic band's final live performance.

"Musically, my favorite moment was on the roof for 'Let It Be,' " Preston told the Chicago Sun-Times in a 2004 interview.

  •  An obit from a Fox fan/reporter

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Preston was also in studio sessions for Sly & the Family Stone's "There's a Riot Goin' On," Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks," Franklin's "Young, Gifted and Black" and the Stones epic "Exile on Main Street." Preston even showed up in a notable track listing in which he didn't perform: Miles Davis named a song in his honor on his 1975 double album "Get Up With It."

Born in Houston on Sept. 9, 1946, and raised in Los Angeles, William Everett Preston had his hands on a keyboard from the age of 3 and by 10 was playing for gospel icon Mahalia Jackson. In 1958, he portrayed a young W.C. Handy in the film "St. Louis Blues," which told Handy's life story and put Preston on the same set as Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway and Pearl Bailey.

In the early 1960s, he toured with Ray Charles and Little Richard and, while at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany, met a young British act called the Beatles. George Harrison later invited Preston to sit in during the making of "Let It Be" .

Harrison would later say that Preston's presence was one of the few sources of positive energy during that time and that by merely being in the room he probably prevented the Beatles from walking out on one another. The label on the single of "Get Back" reads "The Beatles With Billy Preston," marking the only time anyone besides the four members was given a credit on a Beatles single. He also played organ on the song "Let It Be," and played keyboards on two tracks from "Abbey Road," "I Want You",and "Something."

Preston played with Ringo Starr and John Lennon on several of their solo projects, but Preston and Harrison remained especially close. The keyboardist joined the former Beatle at the sessions for his hugely successful solo debut, "All Things Must Pass," and again at the Harrison-led all-star "Concert for Bangladesh." When the 1971 live recording was named album of the year, Preston collected a Grammy for his contribution.

In the 1970s, Preston played on five Rolling Stones albums and toured with the band repeatedly as sideman and, in 1973, as an opening act. He won a Grammy for his 1973 instrumental "Outa-Space," and scored other hits with "Will It Go 'Round in Circles" and "With You I'm Born Again," a duet with Syreeta Wright. Preston also helped write a monster hit for Joe Cocker, "You Are So Beautiful."

Last year, he left his bed to record a clavinet sequence for a Red Hot Chili Peppers song called "Warlock," which appears on that Los Angeles band's new album, "Stadium Arcadium." He also lent a gospel organ sound to Neil Diamond's most recent album, "12 Songs."

In addition to his problems with drugs and his health, Preston ran afoul of the law in a 1998 insurance fraud case. Prison "was a great lesson, an awakening. I needed to reflect, to get rid of some of the dead weight around me," he later said. "You take the bitter with the sweet, and I have to say it was my faith that kept me going. I had nothing else to fall back on."