| By age ten he was playing keyboards with gospel diva Mahalia Jackson, and two years later, in 1958, he was featured in Hollywood's film bio of W. C. Handy, St. Louis Blues, as young Handy himself. Preston was a prodigy on organ and piano, recording during the early 1960's for Vee-Jay and touring with Little Richard. He was a loose-limbed regular on the mid-1960's ABC TV series Shindig, proving his talent as both vocalist and pianist, and he built an enviable reputation as a session musician, even backing the Beatles on their Let It Be album. His own string of hits began in the 1970's with "Outa-Space" and the high-flying vocal "Will It Go Round In Circles." By 1978 he decided to jump on the disco bandwagon with the 12" single "Disco Dancin'," it was his swan song for A&M Records. He surfaced on Motown in 1979 with the 12" singles "Go For It" (with Syreeta) and "Give It Up Hot." Once again he didn't crack the club charts. Neither did 1981's 12" of "Just For You." However 1984's "And Dance/Kick It" for Megatone Records finally gave him the club exposure he sought for so many years. A 1991 reunion with Syreeta for Ian Levine's Motorcity label yielded the 12" single of "Watching The Hands Of Time" before the label folded and Preston disappeared. |
