Al Green recorded the song on his album Everything's OK (2005).Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler recorded the song on her album Silhouette In Red (1993).It was also used as the B-side to the single release of the title track. Kenny Rogers recorded the song as the closing track on his best-selling album We've Got Tonight (1983).Perry Como included the song on his album So It Goes (1983).Kenny Rankin recorded it on The Kenny Rankin Album (1977).
Preston and Wilson are said to have collaborated on the song while attending a party where they discussed the concept of beauty. Īccording to Beach Boys biographer Jon Stebbins, although Dennis Wilson is not credited as a writer, he helped Preston finish writing "You Are So Beautiful". In Moore's description, Preston told him: "That song's about my mother!" The composition incorporates part of Preston's 1969 song "Let Us All Get Together (Right Now)", which he wrote with soul singer Doris Troy. According to his friend Sam Moore (who had assumed it was a standard love song), Preston was appalled to learn that Moore was using the song as a means to attract young women each time he sang it in concert. Preston's inspiration was his mother, who worked as a stage actress. The song has also been featured in numerous movies, television shows, and ads.īilly Preston wrote "You Are So Beautiful" with one of his regular collaborators, Bruce Fisher. Kenny Rankin, Ray Stevens, Kenny Rogers, Bonnie Tyler and Brian Kennedy are also among the artists who have covered "You Are So Beautiful". Wilson performed the song live with the Beach Boys from the late 1970s onwards. Some sources credit Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys with contributing to the song's genesis. It became Cocker's highest charting solo hit, peaking at number five on the United States' Billboard Hot 100 (Cocker's biggest hit on the pop chart was " Up Where We Belong", a duet with Jennifer Warnes from the 1982 film An Officer And A Gentleman, which reached number 1), and at number four on Canada's Top Singles chart. Cocker's version was produced by Jim Price, and released as a single in November 1974. Later that same year, English singer Joe Cocker released a slower version of the song on his album I Can Stand a Little Rain. It was also the B-side of his single "Struttin'". " You Are So Beautiful" is a song written by Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher that was first released in 1974 on Preston's ninth studio album, The Kids & Me.