About halfway through “Let It Be,” as the Beatles continue to write, rehearse, and wrestle with new songs in advance of the band’s first concert in nearly three years, they start playing through some old rock n’ roll favorites. During a run-through of “You Really Got a Hold On Me,” there’s suddenly another musician present, jamming with the band and assisting on various key-based instruments. That’s Billy Preston.
Billy Preston spent a lot of time working with the Rolling Stones after the Beatles, but he isn’t even identified, singled out, or acknowledged in “Let It Be.” Beatle fans might know who he is because of his official crediting by name on the release of single “Get Back” in 1969, created during the period of filming on “Let It Be,” which overlooks and understates the importance of the multi-instrumentalist. The Beatles knew the musician from its early days playing in Hamburg, Germany, and George Harrison brought him in during the sessions for what would become the “Let It Be” album to inject new energy into the band and flesh out its sound as it prepared to perform live.
The band was on its last legs, and Preston brought so much energy and newness into the band that they even considered adding him as a permanent member. Instead, he just played on “Get Back” and with the Beatles at its rooftop concert seen in “Let It Be.”
