American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (born 1946)

Billy Preston

William Everett Preston was an American keyboardist, singer, and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, backing Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, the Everly Brothers, Reverend James Cleveland, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones. He gained attention as a solo artist with hit singles "That's the Way God Planned It", the Grammy-winning "Outa-Space", "Will It Go Round in Circles", "Space Race", "Nothing from Nothing", and "With You I'm Born Again". Additionally, Preston co-wrote "You Are So Beautiful", which became a hit for Joe Cocker.

Born

1946

September 2

Died

2006

Era

1940s

Country

—

About

Billy, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1946 Born
2006 Died

Also on September 2

What else happened on this day, through history

-44 Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion.
-44 Cicero launches the first of his Philippicae (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will make 14 of them over the following months.
-31 Final War of the Roman Republic: Battle of Actium: Off the western coast of Greece, forces of Octavian defeat troops under Mark Antony and Cleopatra.
1192 The Treaty of Jaffa is signed between Richard I of England and Saladin, leading to the end of the Third Crusade.

See all of September 2 →

The world in 1946

When Billy arrived

april 1 The 8.6 Mw  Aleutian Islands earthquake shakes the Aleutian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong). A destructive tsunami reaches the Hawaiian Islands resulting in dozens of deaths, mostly in Hilo, Hawaii.
april 1 The Malayan Union is established. Protests from locals led to the establishment of the Federation of Malaya two years later.
april 17 The last French troops are withdrawn from Syria.
april 18 The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands.

Read the year 1946 →

Same-day contemporaries

Also born on September 2

Adolph Rupp 1901–1977 American basketball player and coach (born 1901) Andreas Embirikos 1901–1975 Greek poet and photographer (born 1901) Austin Abrams 1996– American actor Bill Shankly 1913–1981 Scottish footballer and manager (died 1981) Cleveland Amory 1917–1998 American author and activist (born 1917) Frederick Soddy 1877–1956 English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1956) Israel Gelfand 1913– Russian-American mathematician and biologist (died 2009) John Zorn 1953– American saxophonist, composer, and producer Joseph Roth 1894–1939 Austrian-French journalist and author (born 1894)

See everything on September 2 →

Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1946

Donald Trump 1946– American businessman, television personality, 45th and 47th President of the United States George W. Bush 1946– American businessman and politician, 43rd President of the United States Steven Spielberg 1946– American director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded DreamWorks Ahmed Zewail 1946–2016 Egyptian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1946) Alicia Borinsky 1946– Argentine writer Bettye LaVette 1946– American singer-songwriter Blair Brown 1946– American actress Daryl Hall 1946– American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer David Lynch 1946–2025 American television and film director, visual artist and musician, complications from emphysema (born 1946)

Read about the year 1946 →

Keep going

More to explore

Billy's birthday September 2 Billy's zodiac Virgo When Billy arrived 1946