Milestones Jun. 19, 2006

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DIED. Billy Preston, 59, effervescent master R&B keyboardist of the '60s and '70s, later derailed by struggles with alcohol abuse and cocaine addiction; after a long battle with kidney disease that had left him in a coma since November; in Scottsdale, Ariz. At age 7, Preston started directing choir sessions at his Los Angeles church before impressing larger audiences with such hits as Nothing from Nothing and Will It Go Round in Circles? Yet to such peers as Bob Dylan and the Beatles, the gregarious, gospel-influenced virtuoso, who also wrote You Are So Beautiful for Joe Cocker, was the most coveted session player of his era. Preston--who George Harrison said kept the Fab Four together on their final, tumultuous recording, Let It Be--famously accompanied them in their last concert, in 1969 on a London rooftop. He also received a rare honor on Get Back—the "fifth Beatle" was credited ("the Beatles with Billy Preston"), the only time a sideman for the band was so acknowledged.