Many have claimed to be the fifth Beatle. Most of them are wannabes, hangers on, or quite frankly, mildly deranged. There is one man however who was employed to be the fifth Beatle during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions by The Beatles themselves.
That man was Billy Preston. He did an excellent job and was hugely underpaid.
Born a full 18 years before the repeal of The Jim Crow Laws in Texas, with one of the finest Afro’s in the Western Hemisphere, Billy Preston was not the most likely Mop Top.