There's a marvelous film clip of Preston as a child appearing on the Nat King Cole TV show. He couldn't have been more than 12 yet he commanded the screen with Cole standing at his side.
Billy Preston Dies
I hadn't realized he'd been in a coma since last November with kidney failure. Here's a link to the Washington Post article. (For some reason it neglects to mention his other big hit single of the 70's as a solo artist, "Will It Go 'Round In Circles"). Although I can't say I'm a big fan of his own albums aside from the hit singles, Preston was an amazingly talented and natural musician, famously a teenage prodigy on piano and organ, who always complemented and heightened the impact of other artists' work with whom he guested. And he seemed to radiate an infectious cheer and good will in his public persona like few others in rock, even though he clearly had his private demons. A sad day, music lost a truly beautiful cat.