It's a terrible loss. It's too bad no one really notices, he was such an important figure in the Beatles lives, he even helped them get along better!
If he wasn't around, I don't know if Abbey Road would have ever been recorded/released, so.......... kidding I hope he's resting in peace.
the press are bizarre... they call him the 5th beatle! In fact the 5th beatle can be Pete Best (their 1st drummer) but the real 5th Beatle member was Stu Sutcliffe... a sort of "James Dean" lookin guitarist who was the best friend of John... they were as 2 brothers... But Sutcliffe leave the band a few month before their 1st hit... he was an artist and was better painter than guitarist...(he died at 22!) If Stu had choosed to stay in the beatles... he was destined to be probably the most loved by girls and so one of the most popular... but well his destiny was different... So there's a lot of 5th beatle... And in fact Billy Preston was more a 6th Rolling Stone than a 5th beatles... In album like "It's only Rock n roll" or "Black & Blue" he was an essential funky sound of the Stones... Yes Billy Your notes will be played forever in all parts of the planet , it's difficult to be more eternal than that...