Music Is My Life
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Album Summary
"Music Is My Life" came rolling out of Apple Records in 1972, and honey, this was Billy Preston at the absolute top of his game. Produced during that golden stretch when Preston was the most in-demand keyboard man in the business, this album captured a soul genius in full flight — a man who had sat at the right hand of the Beatles, locked in with the Rolling Stones, and still found time to pour everything he had into his own art. The recording sessions drew from the deep well of Preston's gospel roots while reaching forward into the funky, spirit-drenched sound that was defining the early seventies. This was not a man chasing trends — this was a man setting them.
Reception
- The album rode the momentum of Preston's rising solo profile, achieving moderate commercial success on the Billboard charts during a period when his name carried real weight with record buyers across soul, rock, and R&B audiences.
- Critics of the era pointed to Preston's extraordinary organ work as the centerpiece of the record, recognizing his rare gift for making the Hammond B3 feel like a living, breathing instrument with something urgent to say.
Significance
- "Music Is My Life" stands as a testament to the early-seventies fusion of gospel, soul, funk, and rock — a blending that few artists could pull off with Preston's authenticity, because his roots in the church gave every note a foundation that could not be faked.
- The album's title track and its spiritual numbers like 'God Loves You' and 'Make The Devil Mad (Turn On To Jesus)' reveal the sacred thread running through Preston's secular stardom, marking him as one of the era's most genuinely gospel-informed voices in popular music.
- With tracks like 'Will It Go Round In Circles' anchoring the album's commercial identity, the record demonstrated Preston's unique ability to move between joyful pop-soul and deeper, more searching musical territory without losing his essential character.
Tracklist
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A1 We're Gonna Make It 117
3:13
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A2 One Time Or Another 117
2:49
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A3 Blackbird 90
2:48
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A4 I Wonder Why 142
5:43
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A5 Will It Go Round In Circles 98
4:28
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A6 Ain't That Nothin' 79
3:47
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B1 God Loves You 109
2:50
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B2 Make The Devil Mad (Turn On To Jesus) 91
5:22
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B3 Nigger Charlie 90
6:31
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B4 Heart Full Of Sorrow 128
3:35
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B5 Music's My Life 98
3:58
Artist Details
Billy Preston was one of the most gifted keyboard men to ever grace this earth, a Los Angeles-born soul and gospel virtuoso who came up playing organ as a child prodigy in the church before the whole world got hip to his magic in the late 1960s and into the 1970s, blending gospel fire with funky R&B and rock and roll in a way that made everyone from Ray Charles to the Beatles to the Rolling Stones want him in the room. He earned himself the rare title of the "Fifth Beatle" after sitting in on the Let It Be sessions in 1969, and his solo smashes like "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing from Nothing" proved that this cat was no sideman — he was a headliner, a star, and a deeply spiritual force in popular music. Billy Preston's story is one of pure talent meeting pure soul, a man who moved between worlds — Black gospel, rock royalty, and mainstream pop — with a joy and authenticity that left fingerprints on some of the most important recordings of his era.
