Billy Preston Passed Away

Billy Preston, the keyboardist that landed dream performances with the Beatles & the Rolling Stones & enjoyed his own hit singles including "Outta Space" & "Nothing From Nothing," died Tuesday at 59. His longtime manager, Joyce Moore, said it was a heart infection in November left him in a coma, & he never regained consciousness; he was taken to a Scottsdale hospital Saturday after his condition deteriorated. Preston battled chronic kidney failure & received a kidney transplant in 2002. But that kidney failed & he was on dialysis since then. Preston had been a teen prodigy on the piano & organ, & lent his gospel-tinged touch to classics such as the Beatles' "Get Back" & the Stones' "Can't You Hear Me Knocking?" As a solo artist in the 1970s, he won a best instrumental Grammy in 1973 for "Outta Space," & scored hits with "Will It Go 'Round In Circles," "Nothing From Nothing" & "With You I'm Born Again," a duet with Syreeta Wright that became a favorite at weddings. He also wrote Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful." He was 1 of many sometimes labeled "The Fifth Beatle." Credits include: Aretha Franklin's "Young, Gifted & Black," Bob Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks" & Sly & the Family Stone's "There's a Riot Goin' On."