Space Race (Billy Preston song) explained

Space Race (Billy Preston song)
Type:	single
Artist:	Billy Preston
Album:	Everybody Likes Some Kind of Music
B-Side:	We're Gonna Make It
Released:	September 1973
Genre:	Funk
Label:	A&M
Producer:	Billy Preston

"Space Race" is an instrumental track by Billy Preston, released as a single in 1973 on the A&M label, taken from Preston's 1973 album Everybody Likes Some Kind of Music. "Space Race" was awarded a gold record. ^[1]

Chart performance

The single, a sequel to his 1972 hit, "Outa-Space", reached number one on the R&B chart for one week and number four on the Pop Singles chart.^[2]

Personnel

• Billy Preston – vocals, keyboards, bass guitar, producer
• David T. Walker – guitar
• Hubert Heard, Kenneth Lupper – keyboards
• Paul Riser – string & horn arrangements
• Manuel Kellough – drums
• Tommy Vicari – engineer

Popular culture

• The instrumental proved popular enough that the musical variety show American Bandstand used it as the song for its mid-broadcast break from the mid-1970s until the show completed its run in 1989.^[3]
• The song can also be heard in a party scene in the 1979 film When a Stranger Calls.

Notes and References

1. https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt0779q1nw/dsc/#aspace_ref81_rjd
2. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Joel Whitburn

   . Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Joel Whitburn . 2004 . Record Research . 468.

3. Book: White, Adam . Adam White (author)

   . The Billboard Book of Number One Rhythm & Blues Hits. Bronson . Fred . Adam White (author). Fred Bronson . 1993 . Billboard Books:Watson-Guptill Publications, New York . 125.