BILLY PRESTON - THAT'S THE WAY?
I've been sent this short blurb about a radio programme coming up next Tuesday. I've never heard him called "the fifth Beatle", and I'm not sure that claiming he "collaborated with Bob Dylan" isn't a slight stretch too, but still:
Billy Preston: That's the Way God Planned It
Tuesday 21 December
1:30pm - 2:00pm
BBC Radio 4
Rick Wakeman explores the life and music of fellow keyboard player Billy Preston, the so-called fifth Beatle, who collaborated with some of the biggest names in pop, including Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton and Aretha Franklin. Featuring contributions by Jools Holland, Bill Wyman and Pete Townshend, this documentary also explores the secret that Preston spent his life suppressing - one that his former manager Joyce Moore believes fuelled his personal problems.
posted by Michael Gray | 2:33 pm
6 Comments:
The original single of ‘Get Back’ was credited to The Beatles and Billy Preston, apparently the only Beatles record ever to have a joint credit. But I’ve lost count of the people I’ve heard called the ‘fifth Beatle’ – everybody from George Martin to George Best; from Mal Evans to Murray the K; even the bullfighter El Cordobes, if memory serves me. Wikipedia even has a long article on the subject.
http://www.examiner.com/bob-dylan-in-national/bob-dylan-and-billy-preston-who-did-not-play-on-blood-on-the-tracks
I solved the mystery last September :-D
The Fifth Beatle - that's what he's most famous for, surely?
Billy Preston was a terrific artist in his own right, who's career goes right back to the mid-'60s. Simply judging him by some of the people he worked with (and he did a lot more with the Stones than the Beatles) does him a massive disservice.
Did you listen to it? Cos that's exactly what it was about. Rather moving too
I did indeed. Such a sad story in so many ways.
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