I had heard somewhere that Billy Preston (will it go round in circles, et al) used to work for some religious outfit before he became famous in the 70s. after he was famous, i was looking at the credits on the back of an album of “music from the revival tent of a.a. allen”, or some such title, and the organist/pianist, i forget which, was billy preston. in the 50s-70s, allen was hugely successful as a healing revivalist, so the preston-allen timeframe would work. was this the religious group for which preston worked?
From: http://www.beatlesagain.com/bbilly.html
"Billy Preston was born on September 9, 1946 in Houston Texas. At age twelve he had a cameo role in a film about W.C. Handy, St. Louis Blues, in which he played the composer as a child. Already an established keyboard session player in America, then fifteen year old Billy Preston first met the Beatles in 1962 in Hamburg while he was touring with Little Richard. Because of their closeness in ages, he and George Harrison became close friends. Billy got to spend much time with the Beatles and see them perform during this exciting time.
Billy went on to play keyboards for Sam Cooke, and also in the band on the Shindig TV show. His first charting record was an instrumental gospel album, The Most Exciting Organ Ever, for Vee Jay records in 1966. This is another interesting parallel in the careers of Billy Preston and the Beatles, as Vee Jay was also still releasing Beatles records in the U.S. at this time.
The next time he toured Britain, this time with Ray Charles, he and George met up again, and the Beatles decided to buy his recording contract from Vee Jay and sign him to their new Apple label.
At the time, the Beatles were heavily into the making of Let It Be, which was becoming a very unhappy chore because of tensions in the group. George brought Billy in to play keyboards on some of the tracks, as the orginal idea of Let It Be was to be a “live” recording with no overdubbing, which left none of them to add things like a keyboard part. But, George also hoped that bringing in an outsider would make the others behave nicer and make the Let It Be set a happier place to be, and it worked, albeit temporarily. The Get Back single was credited as “The Beatles with Billy Preston”, the first time another artist was credited on a Beatles record, gaining him the title in some circles as “the fifth Beatle”. In addition, although you can barely see it in the Let It Be movie, Billy played with the group on the famous “Rooftop Concert”, the Beatles last live appearance together. "
Here’s some more, from his official website at http://www.billypreston.net/biography.html :
"Billy Preston was born on September 2,1946 in Houston, Texas and raised mostly in Los Angeles. His career has successfully spanned three decades. He began playing piano at age three, starting on his mother’s lap, and progressed to his first “solo” performance of “Mary Had A Little Lamb.” At seven he won a contest at Athens Elementary School to direct the Houston Symphony Orchestra. He directed “The Voices of Victory,” the 100-voice choir of the Victory Baptist Church. His mother Robbie Preston Williams played the piano for the choir. Victory Baptist Church was one of the first local churches to have a live television program. This was Billy’s television debut. He started playing the organ, though his feet couldn’t even reach the foot pedals. By age ten, he was performing with Gospel great, Mahalia Jackson. At twelve, he made his first movie appearance as the young W.C. Handy in “St. Louis Blues.” His first recording session was with Professor Alex Bradford. By this time, he had a musical hero, Ray Charles, whom he admired mostly from afar. During those years he played with such Gospel luminaries as James Cleveland, The Caravans and The Staple Singers. Fifteen-year-old-Billy Preston’s first experience playing rock n’ roll was with Little Richard during a tour of Europe in 1964. Sam Cooke, who Billy had met during his gospel touring, was also on the bill. After the tour he joined the roster of Cooke’s SAR/Derby label. His debut album was titled “The 16 Year Old Soul.” He first met the Beatles during that tour, and they became good friends. He then recorded “The Most Exciting Organ Ever” for Vee Jay Records in 1966. It was an instrumental gospel album that proved to be his first charting record. He was a loose-limbed regular on “The Shindig” series for ABC-TV, proving his talents as both vocalist and pianist, and he built an enviable reputation as a session musician. There he met with his idol Ray Charles. He recorded and toured three years with Ray Charles. Ray would introduce him as the young man that he would like to carry on the work that he started. An interesting parallel in the careers of Billy Preston and the Beatles, was that as Vee Jay was also still releasing Beatles records in the U.S. at this time. The next time he toured Britain, this time with Ray Charles, Billy and George met up again, and the Beatles decided to buy his recording contract from Vee Jay and sign him to their new Apple label. George Harrison produced his UK hit “That’s The Way God Planned It.” The following year he made a guest appearance at the Concert For Bangladesh. "
I don’t think it was this Billy Preston who played for A. A. Allen, as he was only 15 when he met the Beatles in 1962.
thanks, JohnT
Google is your friend. Live it, love it, learn it, use it. 
well, google is my friend, but somehow, this is one of those friends who want to tell me 1 billion things BEFORE they get to the point!
best wishes! (i don’t use the smilies because i always do the html biz incorrectly)