About a week ago we told you about the up-coming, brand new ABRAMORAMA documentary "BILLY PRESTON: That’s The Way God Planned It," opening Friday, February 20th, at New York City’s Film Forum. (It'll play there thru February 27th before making additional theatrical appearances all over the country, all prior to streaming. See https://www.billyprestonfilm.com/ for additional dates and locations.)
I had the extreme privilege of viewing an advance screener of the film this past weekend … and I can highly recommend seeing it once it reaches wide release.
That doesn’t mean that I didn’t come into this without a few reservations …
I’m always a little bit suspicious and skeptical when I see a long list of half a dozen Executive Producers attached to a film project … at some point, it just feels like these people were determined to have their names included in any fashion, usually as a means to qualify for some type of additional "pay day" in compensation for their efforts, regardless of what they actually contributed to the making of the film.
Well, THIS film has 30 Executive Producers! In fact, if you scan the credits at the end of the film, you'll find no less than 50 Producers or Co-Producers credited in all, so read into that what you may … it’s well beyond my own scope to even imagine how THAT many people could be involved in any decision making process when it comes to the final edit of a film. That being said, I don’t think I’ve ever seen ANY film with so many names attached to it … you wonder how they were ever able to agree as to how the film should be done! (My own personal experience has been that you can’t even get THREE people to agree on where to go for lunch!)
But this personal annoyance of mine should in no way imply that the film isn’t good and powerful … because it is.
It all kicks off with Billy’s performance at George Harrison’s Concert For Bangla Desh in 1971, where he literally steals the show as (if nothing else) the most energetic member of the assembled band of super musicians.
It was Harrison who first invited Billy, an old friend from their Hamburg Days, to sit in with The Beatles during what would become known as their "Get Back" / "Let It Be" sessions. After a preliminary history lesson on Billy’s connection to the likes of Nat “King” Cole, Ray Charles and Little Richard, the doc really comes to life when you see him join The Beatles for these 1969 sessions … and it becomes immediately apparent just how much his contributions added to these recordings. (At one point, John Lennon says “It’s almost like having a fifth Beatle” and asks him "Do you wanna join the band?") Considering how many years had passed since they last crossed paths with one another, it really was quite amazing how instantly it gelled, giving The Beatles a whole new sound that they never would have achieved on their own had Billy not been there to create it.
Signed as an Apple Records artist after these sessions, he failed to strike gold there. However, once leaving the label and moving over to A&M, he hit #1 with the songs “Will It Go Round In Circles,” “Nothing From Nothing” and “Outta Space,” as well as writing the song “You Are So Beautiful,” which became a Top Five Hit for Joe Cocker when he recorded it in 1975.
DIDJAKNOW?: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Ginger Baker were the backing band for Billy’s original Apple recording of “That’s The Way God Planned It” … amazing! Yet it still never climbed any higher than #62 on the charts.
DIDJAKNOW?: After working with him on the Beatles sessions, John Lennon invited Billy to play on the Plastic Ono Band single “Instant Karma”
In fact, over the years Billy played with not only Nat “King" Cole, Little Richard, Ray Charles and The Beatles, but also with The Rolling Stones, Sam Cooke, Barbra Streisand, Sly Stone, Nora Jones, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and many, many others.
Billy made his television debut at the age of five. His appearance on "The Nat 'King' Cole Show" at the age of eleven has been a YouTube sensation for decades.
Billy was also an integral part of the “Shindig!” house band – after Ray Charles appeared on the program, he invited Billy to come record with him … and then to join him on the road. (The two had actually met years earlier – and Billy’s impression of Ray Charles is uncanny!) Seek out the YouTube video of Billy’s appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” as part of Ray’s band.
When you think Billy Preston, the first image that comes to mind is Billy with that big, out of control Afro … so to see him with his hair combed down Beatles-style, circa 1965, on “Shindig!” was quite a shock. (Turns out all his Afros were wigs … and he had them in all different shapes and sizes.)
After Mick Jagger saw Billy Preston perform at The Troubadour in Los Angeles, he hired him to play keyboards for The Rolling Stones and gave him his own solo spot within the show.
Not wanting to give too much away (see this film for yourself!), the story behind how “Will It Go Round In Circles” was written, recorded and turned into a hit is quite fascinating.
I’ll also tell you that the footage of Joe Cocker and Patti LaBelle singing a duet of “You Are So Beautiful” is killer. (How this came to be known as Dennis Wilson’s signature song has always been a mystery to me! I've read rumors over the years that Dennis had a hand in writing it ... but none of this comes up during the new documentary.)
DIDJAKNOW?: Billy was the musical guest on the very first episode of “Saturday Night Live.”
After a rather long lull in the recording industry, Billy signed with Motown, where he had his last big hit, a duet with Syreeta Wright on “With You I’m Born Again.” (#4, 1980)
There was a dark side to Billy that was kept from the public ... and this film makes no secret of the fact that Billy Preston was gay. (In my opinion, it focuses way too much on this issue … but it must have haunted him throughout his career.) When he established a relationship with Kathy Silva, a beautiful woman with a two year old son, most of those around him felt it was Billy’s way of establishing a sense of "family" ... for the sake of a perceived public image. However, as soon as Kathy met Sly Stewart of Sly and the Family Stone, she left Billy to marry Sly. (It sounds like Sly “borrowed” in other ways from Billy, too.)
For all of his adult life, Billy had drinking and drug issues … all of which is explained here as collateral damage and a “sign of the times,” indicative of his chosen career ... baggage, if you will, for a lifestyle built around sex, drugs and rock and roll. It sounds like he was also a victim of child abuse at an early age ... another casualty of life on the road ... something that just wasn’t talked about at the time ... but another burden that Billy had to carry with him throughout his career ... to the point that he, himself, became an abuser.
Billy’s drug habit became so bad over the years that he ultimately ended up selling his pianos and cars to buy crack cocaine. In fact, he lost it all in the end, winding up penniless and millions of dollars in debt. But his problems didn’t end there … his arrest record includes child assault, arson, insurance fraud, cocaine possession ... all leading up to Billy ultimately being sentenced to prison for five years. Preston was in such bad shape at the time that his sentencing judge wasn’t sure Billy would even live long to serve out his sentence. About a year into his incarceration, Preston sent that sentencing judge a thank you letter from prison stating that, “As strange as it may sound, being in prison may have actually saved my life.”
After his release from prison, Billy needed a kidney transplant. Footage thereafter shows Preston with Sam Moore (of Sam and Dave fame) performing with Paul Schaffer on “The David Letterman Show.” (The last recording session Billy ever did was with Sam Moore … sadly, by this point Billy had relapsed into drug use again.)
As Billy’s parole was coming to an end, Eric Clapton (having dealt with some sobriety issues of his own over the years) invited him to come out on tour with him, vouching for him with the authorities. However, while on tour Preston went through renal failure and soon things had to be rearranged to allow for dialysis equipment to accompany him on tour.
The end of the film comes full circle with “The Concert For George,” showing Eric Clapton and Billy Preston singing a very emotional version of George Harrison’s song “Isn’t It A Pity.” There is no question as to Billy’s God-given talent to play and create music. In Ringo Starr's words, "He never put his fingers in the wrong place."
We are also treated to a latter day session featuring Ray Charles and Billy Preston backing Nora Jones on a remake of Charles’ ‘60’s hit “Here We Go Again” before the final credits roll.
Preston died on June 6th, 2006, of kidney failure. He had finally checked himself into rehab a short time before … but by then it was too late.
This film presents an interesting insight into an extremely talented musician who kept his private life private when it came to dealing with his personal demons. That being said, I’m not sure Billy would have approved of the final cut of this film, although his manager says that by the time of his final stay in rehab, he had finally come to terms with who he was and admitted for first time in his life that he was gay. While he may have been a tortured artist for most of his career, this still doesn’t excuse this limitless amount of drugs he used in an effort to kill the pain.
On the plus side, the film is filled with great music throughout and it’s nice to know that Billy was finally recognized for his musical contributions by being inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2021. (He was a long-time member of our "Deserving And Denied" list here in Forgotten Hits.) Most fittingly, he was inducted by Ringo Starr.
Definitely recommended. (kk)
Kent Kotal
Forgotten Hits
60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
2/9/66 – Sophie Tucker dies
(Remember in an early interview when The Beatles said Sophie Tucker was their favorite American group???) lol
Speaking of which ...
62 YEARS AGO TODAY: The Beatles made their first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show"
