"You Are So Beautiful" is a song written by Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher. It was first recorded by Preston and made popular in a version by Joe Cocker.
Preston's original version first appeared on his 1974 album, The Kids and Me. Cocker's producer, Jim Price created a slowed-down arrangement for Cocker's version, which first appeared on the album, I Can Stand a Little Rain (released later in 1974). Released as a single, the Joe Cocker version reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1975 and helped the album become a hit.
According to Beach Boys member Dennis Wilson's biographer, Jon Stebbins, Wilson claimed that he and Preston spontaneously collaborated on the words to the song at a party. Wilson sang the song as an encore at Beach Boys shows intermittently between 1975 and 1983.
