Billy Preston: That’s The Way God Planned It

Musical prodigy, admired and beloved by collaborators including Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Sly Stone, and others; dubbed “the fifth Beatle” for his co-credited “Get Back” recording; genius of gospel, rock, and funk as keyboardist, vocalist, and songwriter. Billy Preston was also troubled, underrecognized, and elusive—a closeted gay man raised in a Black church community that stridently condemned homosexuality (or pretended it didn’t exist). Through electrifying concert footage and moving interviews with Billy Porter, Ringo Starr, Merry Clayton, and Preston’s longtime friend Eric Clapton, Emmy®-winning director Paris Barclay (NYPD Blue, Sons of Anarchy, Scandal) and writer Cheo Hodari Coker (Luke Cage) bring this unsung maestro front and center, with a revelatory story of what might have—and should have—been.