Joel first lived in the , in , but his family soon moved to , . Often he himself, along with many in the media, have confused this with him living in neighboring Levittown, NY (formed 1947). In truth, Joel lived on Meeting Lane in Hicksville, a town that has existed since 1648, near the Levittown border, in a section of town where Post-WW2, there were houses developed by Abe Levitt, known as Levitt Houses, thus forming nearby Levittown.
. His father, Howard (né: Helmut) Joel, was with the US Army unit that liberated in April 1945. Howard was originally from Germany where his father owned the fourth largest mail order company in Germany before being dispossessed by the Nazis.
His mother, Rosalind Nyman, was born in , to an Jewish family. His parents later divorced, and his father moved back to (Austria). His half-brother is an acclaimed classical pianist and conductor in Europe, now living in New York.
From an early age, Joel had an intense interest in music; especially European classical music. He reluctantly began piano lessons at an early age at his mother's insistence. His interest in music instead of sports was the source of teasing and bullying in his early years.
As a teenager, Joel took up so that he would be able to defend himself. He boxed successfully on the amateur circuit for a short time, but abandoned the sport shortly after having his nose broken in a boxing match.
Joel attended Hicksville High School, and was to have graduated in .
However, he was one English credit short of the graduation requirement; he overslept on the day of an important exam due to his late-night musician's lifestyle.[ ] Faced with a summer in school to complete this requirement, he decided not to continue. He left high school without a diploma to begin a career in music.
In 1992, the English credit requirement was waived by the Hicksville School Board and he received his diploma at Hicksville High's graduation ceremony 25 years after he left the school.
At the age of 14, Joel joined his first band, The Echoes (which later became The Lost Souls). According to producer , Joel was also the pianist on hit "Remember (Walking In The Sand)" .
In , he joined The Hassles, a band that had some local success ("Every Step I Take," "You Got Me Hummin'"). The Hassles released two albums (The Hassles in and Hour of the Wolf, ) on the record label. Following The Hassles' demise in , he formed the duo Attila with Hassles drummer Jon Small.
Attila released their eponymous debut album in and disbanded the following October.
Upon losing his record contract with Attila, Joel suffered severe , and was admitted into Meadowbrook Hospital after ingesting furniture polish in a half-hearted attempt. The note he left eventually became the lyrics to his song "Tomorrow Is Today.
" Upon release from Meadowbrook Hospital in early , he began to re-explore his place in the music business, including the participation in a television commercial with and the contribution of rock criticism to a music magazine called Changes.
Joel signed his first solo record contract with Artie Ripp of Family Productions, and subsequently recorded his first solo album. (a reference to the of the same name), was released in 1971.
However, the album was mastered at the wrong speed, and the album was initially released with this error, resulting in Joel sounding a half step too high (Joel later commented that he sounded like ). The onerous terms of the Family Productions contract also guaranteed him very little money from the sales of his albums.
In order to get out of the deal with Family Productions, Joel moved to with Elizabeth Weber, and they married in Los Angeles in May, 1971.
For six months the following year, he played in the Executive Lounge piano bar under the name Bill Martin. This experience is what gave him the material for " ."
In addition, a radio station, -FM, started playing a tape of a new song, "Captain Jack," which was taken from a broadcast which became an underground hit on the .
An executive from Columbia Records named Herb Gordon heard his music and made his record label aware of Joel's talent. From there he signed with Columbia Records. Hits such as "She's Got a Way" and "Everybody Loves You Now" were originally released on this album, though they did not gain much attention until released as live performances in 1981 on .
Since then they have become regular concert numbers. Cold Spring Harbor got a second chance on the charts in 1983, when Columbia reissued the album after slowing it down to the correct speed. The album reached # 158 in the US and # 95 in the UK nearly a year later.
His experiences in Los Angeles connected him with record company executives, who bought out his contract with Ripp with the condition that the "Family Productions" logo be displayed alongside the Columbia logo for the next five albums. Also in the contract was the agreement that Family Productions would receive a 25 cent royalty for every album Joel sold, which would come back to haunt him when he hit it big. His brief tenure in Los Angeles also inspired his signature song "Piano Man.
" The album was released in late 1973 and was . To this day it has sold over four million copies. However, due to the large sums of money involved in the legal tangles of the contract buyout, Joel netted less than $7,000 in profit from his certified Gold record.
Although this album is best known for its title track, several other future gems include "Captain Jack," "The Ballad of Billy the Kid," and "You're My Home" (the of the "Piano Man" single, which would later be covered by ), all of which would become staples of Joel's live shows.
As of January 2007, the song Piano Man is still in the top 100 rock songs on iTunes.
Joel remained in Los Angeles to write , his second album under the Columbia label.
References to both and the pepper the album. The standout track on the album is "The Entertainer," which picks up thematically where "Piano Man" left off. Joel was upset that "Piano Man" had been significantly edited down in order to make it more radio-friendly, and in "The Entertainer," he refers to the edit with sarcastic lines such as, "If you're gonna have a hit, you gotta make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05.
" This refers to the album version of this song which is 5:37, and the edited single which is 3:05. Although Streetlife Serenade is often considered one of Joel's weaker albums (Joel has confirmed his distaste for the album), it nonetheless contains some notable tracks including the title track, with its -like intro, "Los Angelenos," and the "The Mexican Connection." It also marked the beginning of a more confident vocal style on Joel's part.
Disenchanted with the L.A. music scene, Joel returned to New York in 1975.
There he recorded what many fans and critics consider one of his best albums, . On Turnstiles, Joel used his own hand-picked musicians in the studio for the first time, and took a more hands-on role. Songs were initially recorded and produced by famed producer , who subsequently was fired.
The songs were re-recorded and Joel took over, producing the album himself. The minor hit "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" echoed the sound, and was even covered by . The album also featured the New York anthem, "New York State of Mind," a bluesy, jazzy epic that has become one of Joel's signature songs and was later covered by fellow Columbia labelmate on her Streisand Superman album.
Other top songs on the album include "Summer, Highland Falls," and "Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)." Songs such as "Prelude/Angry Young Man" would become a mainstay of his concerts for years.
For his album , Columbia Records united Joel with producer .
The album yielded four Top 40 hits on the in the US. Album sales exceeded Columbia's previous top album, 's , and was certified multi-platinum. It was Joel's first Top Ten album, as it rose to # 2 on the charts.
Phil Ramone eventually produced every Billy Joel studio release until 1989's .
The Stranger netted Joel nominations, for and , for " ", which was written as a gift to his wife Elizabeth and became his highest charting song to date in the United States.
Joel faced high expectations on his next album.
was conceived as a day in , and was named after the block where Columbia Records' office was located. Fans purchased over seven million copies on the strength of the hits "My Life", "Big Shot," and "Honesty." This helped 52nd Street become Joel's first # 1 album.
"My Life" eventually became the theme song for a new US television , , which featured actor in one of his earliest roles. 52nd Street was the first album to be released on in (1982). The album won Grammys for Album of the Year.
Despite all the cover art for the album showing Joel holding a trumpet, he doesn't play the instrument on the album, though two tracks on the album do feature trumpets. plays two solos in "Zanzibar" and joins in the horn section for "Half A Mile Away".
The next wave of Joel's career commenced with the recording of .
Considered his most audacious and ambitious album, Joel took more than a page or two from the - songwriting style on this heavily -influenced album.
Work began on The Nylon Curtain in the spring of . However, Joel was sidelined when he was involved in a serious motorcycle accident.
At about 5:40 P.M., on , , , had made a right hand turn at the intersection of New York Avenue and West 9th Street in .
She then ran a red light and collided with Joel, who was going straight through a green light, on his 1340cc which was . After the crash, he flew right over her car and landed on his back. Both his left wrist and hand were broken and badly damaged.
Joel, lucky to be alive, managed to get up and take inventory of his , , and , until a police officer arrived.
Joel was medevaced by to in . Due to the ensuing surgery, which included the temporary insertion of five pins into his wrist, hand, and a month in the hospital, production of the album was shut down temporarily while Joel recovered.
In the meantime, Joel's first video special, Live from Long Island, was recorded at the in , on , .
The Nylon Curtain went to # 7 on the charts, supported by the popular singles " ", " ", and "Pressure." "Allentown" rose to # 17 on the , making it one of the most-played radio songs of 1982 and the most successful song from The Nylon Curtain album.
Joel's marriage began to suffer as his success rose, and on , , Joel and wife Elizabeth divorced. In accordance with the divorce agreement, Elizabeth took half of the singer's assets.
Following his tour supporting The Nylon Curtain, Joel retreated to the island of for rest and relaxation.
At the hotel's bar, he met , who had been divorced from her husband Jean-François Allaux. They eventually became a couple, and married on , .
The song " " was one of the first songs written when Joel returned from vacation.
"Uptown Girl" was conceived as Joel wondered aloud how the gorgeous Christie Brinkley could wind up with a guy like him. It became a worldwide hit upon its release, and Joel's sole # 1 in the United Kingdom. The resulting album, , was compiled as a tribute to the music of the 1950s, and also resulted in Joel's second # 1 hit, "Tell Her About It.
" The album, which reached # 4 on the charts,and #2 in uk, boasted 6 top-30 singles, the most of any album in Joel's catalog. was also nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy, but lost to 's .
Following the success of An Innocent Man, Joel had been approached to release an album of his most successful singles.
This was not the first time this topic had come up, but Joel had initially considered "Greatest Hits" albums as marking the end of one's career. This time, he agreed, and Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and 2 was released as a 4-sided album and 2-CD set, with the songs in sequence of when they were released.
The new songs " " and "The Night Is Still Young" were recorded and released as singles to support the album.
Greatest Hits was highly successful, selling over 20 million copies worldwide and becoming the top-selling double album of all time by a solo artist (and second overall after by ). It has since been certified by the for over 20 million albums sold .
To date it is the 6th best selling album in American music history according to the RIAA.
Coinciding with the Greatest Hits album release, Joel released a 2-volume Video Album that was a compilation of the promotional videos he had recorded from 1977 to the present time. Along with videos for the new singles off the Greatest Hits album, Joel also recorded a video for his first hit, "Piano Man," for this project.
Two versions of Greatest Hits were released on CD: the initial release on double CD in 1985, and a re-released Enhanced CD version in 1998. While both are the same basic album in general, there are a number of subtle differences between the two:
These songs are fully restored in the re-release.
" The final song recorded for the album was "Code Of Silence." appears on the album, contributing backing vocals.
Though it broke into the Top Ten, The Bridge was not a success in relation to some of Joel's other albums, but it yielded the hit "A Matter Of Trust.
" In a departure from his "piano man" persona, Joel is shown in its video as playing a -autographed Gibson guitar. The ballad "This Is The Time" also charted, and has been a favorite on the circuit ever since. "Modern Woman" was also released as a single and was quite successful, but Joel has since said in interviews he doesn't care for the song, and subsequently it has been left off most of his compilation sets (the exception appears to be ).
It was also the last Billy Joel album to carry the "Family Productions" logo.
At around this time, Billy completed voice work on 's , released in 1988. A loose adaptation of the novel , Billy brought both his acting and musical talents to the film as Dodger.
For the film, Billy recorded a song titled "Why Should I Worry?" Critics were generally positive towards the film, and pointed to Billy's acting contribution as one of its highlights, despite it being his first acting job. In interviews, Billy explained that he took the job due to his love of cartoons as a child.
Throughout his tour supporting The Bridge, Joel and his handlers started planning a trip to the . He would be the first American rock act to play there since the went up, a fact not lost on history buff Joel. There would be six live performances, three each at indoor arenas in and .
Joel and his family (including young daughter Alexa) and his full touring band made the trip in June 1987. The entourage was filmed for television and video to eventually offset the cost of the trip, and the concerts were simulcast on radio around the world.
The audience in at least the first Moscow shows was filled with members of the , who received tickets from the government as a perk.
Most of that audience took a long while to warm up to Joel's energetic show, something that never had happened in other countries he had performed in. As a result of that a minor international incident occurred when he famously flipped over an electric keyboard during the second Moscow show as a show of frustration that his lighting engineers would not turn down the house lights to calm the audience despite several requests. The lighting engineers were more concerned with the amount of light being adequate for filming.
The album , Russian for "Concert," was released in the fall of 1987. Singer Peter Hewlitt was brought in to hit the high notes on his most vocally challenging songs, like "An Innocent Man."
It has been estimated that Joel lost over US $1 million of his own money on the trip and concerts, but he has said the goodwill he was shown there was well worth it.
The song " ," the first single from the album , was released in September 1989. The song became Joel's third US Number 1 hit.
Storm Front was released in October, and it eventually became Joel's first Number 1 album since Glass Houses, 9 years earlier.
Storm Front was Joel's first album since to be recorded without Phil Ramone as producer. For this album, he wanted a new sound, and worked with of fame. Joel also revamped his backing band, firing everyone save drummer and saxophone player Mark Rivera and bringing in new faces, including talented multi-instrumentalist , who would go on to become Joel's musical director and architect of his live sound.
After "We Didn't Start The Fire," Storm Front also produced the hit "I Go To Extremes." The album was also notable for its song " ," written after Joel met a clown in the Soviet city during his tour in 1987, and " ," written to underscore the plight of fishermen on Long Island who are barely able to make ends meet. Another well-known single from the album was the ballad " .
"
In 1992, Joel sued former manager and ex-brother-in-law (ex-wife Elizabeth's brother) for $95 million after accounting irregularities were discovered. The case later settled out of court. [ ]
Joel started work on in early 1993.
Its cover art was a colorful painting by Christie Brinkley that was a series of scenes from each of the songs on the album. The eponymous first single was the last top 10 hit Joel has penned to date, and #1 for a staggering twelve weeks on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. The album includes hits such as "The River of Dreams," "All About Soul," and "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)," written for his daughter, .
A radio remix version of "All About Soul" can be found on "The Essential Billy Joel" (2001), and a demo version appears on "My Lives" (2005). The song "The Great Wall of China" was written about his ex-manager Frank Weber and was a regular in the setlist for Joel's 2006 tour. "2000 Years" was prominent in the millennium concert at Madison Square Garden, December 31, 1999, and "Famous Last Words" closed the book on Joel's pop songwriting.
In August 1995, Billy Joel's long-time committed suicide in his home. Stegmeyer had played on every one of Joel's albums from Turnstiles through The Bridge.
In 1999 Joel performed at New York's on the eve of the new millennium, which at the time was considered to be Joel's last solo concert.
The concert (dubbed The Night Of The 2000 Years) ran on close to 4 hours and was later released as
In 2001 Joel released , a collection of classical piano pieces. All were written by Billy Joel and performed by . Joel often uses bits of these songs as interludes in live performances, and some of them are part of the score for the hit show "Movin' Out.
" The album topped the classical charts at # 1. Joel performed "New York State of Mind" live on September 21, 2001, as part of the benefit concert, and on October 20, 2001, along with "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway), at the Concert for New York City in Madison Square Garden. That night, he also performed "Your Song" with Elton John.
Joel has toured extensively with on a series of "Face to Face" tours. During these shows, the two have played each other's songs and performed duets.
In 2005, Columbia released a box set, , which is largely a compilation of demos, b-sides, live/alternate versions and even a few Top 40 hits.
The compilation also includes the software, in which people can remix "Zanzibar," "Only The Good Die Young," "Keepin' The Faith," and live versions of "I Go To Extremes" and "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" with their PC. Also, a DVD of a show from the River of Dreams tour is included.
On , , Joel began a tour across the United States.
Having not written, or at least released, any new songs in 13 years, he featured a sampling of songs from throughout his career, including major hits as well as obscure tunes like "Zanzibar" and "All For Leyna." His tour included an unprecedented 12 sold-out concerts over several months at in .
On , , Columbia released "12 Gardens: Live", a double album containing 32 live recordings from a collection of the 12 different shows at during Joel's '06 tour.
The singer's stint of 12 shows at broke a previous record set by native, when he played 10 sold-out shows at the same arena. The record earned Joel the only retired number (12) in the arena owned by a non-athlete. This honor has also been given to Joel at the in Philadelphia where a banner in the colors of the is hung honoring Joel's 46 Philadelphia sold-out shows.
2006 also saw Billy Joel visit the and (as part of the European leg of his 2006 tour) for the first time in many years, playing to capacity crowds in , , , , , and .
On , , Joel performed a free concert in , with the as the backdrop, and performed classic hits for hundreds of thousands of fans. Joel performed favorites such as "New York State of Mind," "Honesty," and "Just the Way You Are.
" While introducing one song, the 57-year-old singer joked in shaky , "This song is as old as the Colosseum." Organizers estimated 500,000 people turned out for the show. The concert was opened by Canadian pop-rocker and songwriter .
Billy Joel toured , , , and in late 2006 and will tour the Southeastern United States in February and March 2007, before hitting the Midwest in the spring of '07.
On January 3, 2007 news was leaked to the New York Post that Billy had recorded a new song with lyrics -- this being the first new song with lyrics he'd written in almost 14 years. The song, entitled "All My Life," was Joel's newest single and was released on February 20, 2007.
On February 4, 2007, Joel sang the national anthem for .
On February 27, 2007, Joel's new single "All My Life" (with second track "You're My Home" Live from Madison Square Garden 2006 tour) was released into stores.
Joel's lyrics have made many references to locations in the , particularly .
For example, the "Miracle Mile" line in 1980s "It's Still Rock Roll to Me" refers to the affluent shopping district located on in the community of and 1980s "You May Be Right" references walking through the section of alone as proof of craziness. In his 1973 song "The Ballad of Billy the Kid," he describes a certain "Billy" as being from the town of , the municipality in which the of is located. He has since stated, in the liner notes from his album Songs in the Attic, that this "Billy" is not himself, but rather an bartender.
Additionally, the song "The Downeaster 'Alexa'" mentions several Long Island/New England locations and ports, such as Montauk and Gardiner's Bay.
Several of Joel's songs have grown out of specific personal experiences, including "Piano Man," which he wrote describing his regular job playing at a piano bar in the early 1970s, and " ," purportedly written about either the mainstay Christiano's or a similar eatery in 's . His song "Vienna" was supposedly written about a visit to his father in Europe, while "Big Shot" was based on a bad with 's ex-wife .
In a interview, Joel indicated that "Rosalinda's Eyes" was penned for his mother, Rosalind, as the song his father should have written for her.
" " created a bit of a stir within the religious community when it was first released in 1977. Some radio stations even refused to give the song any airtime.
It is said that while Joel was doing a show in , he had been specifically asked not to perform the song during the show and even received death threats; in response, Joel played it twice. Joel has said about the song that "the point of the song wasn't so much anti-Catholic as pro-lust."
His music reflects influences from many different genres including European classical composers, , 1950s , / , , , , , pop, and even Russian , to straight-up .
This has, in part, led to his broad success over a long period of time, but made him difficult to categorize in popular music today.
This was also the lineup for Joel's first live album, Songs In The Attic.
The and saw significant changes to Joel's band.
By the River of Dreams tour the only remaining long standing member of the band was DeVitto on drums. Multi-instrumentalists and joined and remain in his band to this day. Rivera had taken over the prominent saxophone solo in the song " " that had previously been performed by Cannata (and was re-recorded by Phil Woods for the version of the song).
The River of Dreams tour saw the addition of on keyboards who also remains with the band. has become a frequent band member on guitar and was both a musical consultant and band member in the . For the tour, Joel did not invite DeVitto back as drummer.
Chuck Burgi (from the Broadway production of Joel's musical 'Movin' Out') replaced DeVitto. Richie Cannata returns on saxophones, along with Mark Rivera and Crystal Taliefero, with Cannata again performing the "New York State Of Mind" solo. Carl Fischer plays trumpet and trombone when needed also.
Despite having never graduated from high school, Joel has been presented with multiple :
Joel went on to marry on , . Their marriage produced one child, daughter , born , . Alexa was given the middle name of Ray after , one of Joel's musical idols.
Joel and Brinkley's marriage ended in divorce on , , although the couple remains quite friendly.
In 2004, Joel married 23 year-old . At the time of the wedding, Joel was 54.
Joel's daughter, Alexa Ray, then 18, served as . Joel's second wife, Christie Brinkley, attended the union and gave the couple her blessing. Lee works as a restaurant correspondent for the show, George Hirsch: Living it Up!
. In 2006, Katie Lee hosted 's .
In 2002 he entered , a and center in .
In March 2005 Joel checked into the , where he spent 30 days.
" Recorded live at )
Paul Reiser wrote the lyrics.)
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