The artist who made the Beatles better, according to George Harrison

The artist who made the Beatles better, according to George Harrison


Decisive element to contact the records of Let It Be, a musician in question has become one of the few to receive credit in a band album

During his short but intense and meteoric career, the Beatles They resorted to some external artists to record their revolutionary albums. It was as if the four boys of Liverpool It was enough for yourself, it needed to the maximum of a fifth element in the figure of the manufacturer George Martin.

There are, however, some exceptions e Billy Preston Maybe it’s the main one. The NATO keyboard player HoustonIn Texas (USA), he was also a composer and a studio musician, funk, soul, R&B expert and, of course, in rock.

At the end of the 1960s, when the band lived difficult days and struggled to try to record what the album would be Let it be (1970), Billy Preston became a key piece of the chemistry between the quartet.

According to the guitarist George HarrisonIn a launch declaration Beatles anthology (Via Distant), it was he who suggested Billy Preston for the registration sessions. The climate has changed from water to wine:

“Billy came and said:” Billy remember? Here he is – he knows how to play the plan. “He took the electrical plan and immediately there was a 100% improvement in the atmosphere of the room.

The documentary certifies the improvement

The improvement of the environment, in fact, can be clearly perceived in the documentary The Beatles: Go back (2021). Preston cancels the tension makes the band and sounds better, as Harrison points out:

“Having this fifth person was enough to cut the ice that we had created between us. Billy did not know all the politics and the games that were happening, so in his innocence he was involved and gave an extra touch to the band.”

The guitarist believes:

“Everyone was happier to have someone else who played, and this made what we were doing more pleasant. We all played better and it was a great session. It was more or less as it is on the album.”

Billy Preston and Beatles

Billy Preston ended up playing almost on the entire album. Your piano and the Hammond organ are present “Dig a Pony”, “I have a feeling”, “One after 909”, “The long and winding road”, “Go back”, “Scavalo” AND “Let it be”. During his career, he also worked Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Everly Brothers, Ray Charles, Rolling StonesAmong others, as well as having developed a solo career. He died on June 6, 2006, at 59, due to a series of health problems.

+++ Read more: the greatest guilty for the unhappiness of George Harrison in the Beatles

+++ Read more: the musician who inspired the Beatles to create their own songs

+++ Read more: Never Tell Story: Documentary by Billy Preston explores the musician’s life and legacy

Source: Terra

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