Billy Joel

Billy Joel emerged as a defining figure from New York whose piano-driven songcraft placed him among the era’s most commercially dominant vocalists and composers by the close of the twentieth century. His initial breakthrough arrived during the middle 1970s through a tuneful, keyboard-centered pop style that fused concise Beatles-inspired melodies with infusions of rock, jazz, classic Tin Pan Alley craftsmanship, and occasional Broadway flourishes. Raised on Long Island, the vocalist possessed both a commanding delivery and an instinctive gift for narrative detail; he first entered the national singles chart with the expansive tavern anthem “Piano Man,” a bittersweet, old-fashioned crowd-pleaser that quickly became his defining composition.

His fifth studio set, issued in 1977 under the title The Stranger, propelled him to lasting fame by generating four Top 40 singles, among them “Only the Good Die Young” and the Grammy-winning ballad “Just the Way You Are.” By the decade’s close Joel had become one of America’s foremost concert attractions and a leading pop act, amassing further major successes such as “Movin’ Out,” “My Life,” and “She’s Always a Woman.” Momentum carried into the following decade via Glass Houses and An Innocent Man, the latter helping him navigate the emerging MTV landscape through its prominent “Uptown Girl” clip that featured supermodel Christie Brinkley. The 1985 double-disc retrospective Greatest Hits, Vols. 1 & 2 achieved widespread chart longevity and later received Diamond certification. International appeal remained strong; Joel even performed a widely publicized series of dates across the Soviet Union during the late 1980s. He closed the decade atop the charts with 1989’s Storm Front and its anthemic single “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” Four years afterward River of Dreams marked his final collection of mainstream pop songs; apart from a 2001 album of original instrumental compositions, he largely embraced catalog-focused activities thereafter. Concert demand stayed robust through the 2000s and 2010s, including multiple co-headlining runs with Elton John. Among his distinguished recognitions stand induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Kennedy Center Honors, and the singular retired jersey number awarded to a non-athlete at New York’s Madison Square Garden, where he inaugurated a monthly residency in 2014. The engagement paused during the COVID-19 pandemic yet resumed with a high-profile hometown return in late 2021. Early in 2024 he issued the comeback single “Turn the Lights Back On,” marking his first new pop recording in many years.

Joel entered the world on May 9, 1949, in the Bronx before growing up in the Long Island community of Hicksville, where childhood piano lessons began. Approaching his teenage years he gravitated toward local street gangs and took up welterweight boxing, ultimately participating in twenty-two bouts and sustaining a broken nose during one contest. He balanced piano practice with these physical pursuits until the Beatles’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 prompted him to commit fully to music. He soon joined the Echoes, a Long Island ensemble focused on British Invasion material; the group’s growing popularity in New York led him to abandon high school for a professional path.

While still with the Echoes in 1965, Joel began session work as a sixteen-year-old pianist on several George “Shadow” Morton productions, including the Shangri-Las’ “Leader of the Pack,” along with additional sides issued by Kama Sutra Productions. The Echoes shifted toward late-night engagements and underwent successive renamings to the Emeralds and then the Lost Souls by year’s end. After two years with the Lost Souls, Joel departed in 1967 to join the Hassles, a United Artists–signed Long Island rock band. The Hassles issued two albums and four singles across the next two years, none of which achieved commercial traction. Following the group’s 1969 dissolution, Joel and drummer Jon Small formed the organ-and-drums proto-metal duo Attila, securing an Epic contract. The project pursued an effects-laden, psychedelic hard-rock approach, and its self-titled 1970 debut—packaged with imagery of the members as barbarians—flopped commercially, prompting the duo’s breakup. While disappointing sales contributed, Joel’s relationship with Small’s wife Elizabeth, whom he later married, ultimately terminated the venture.

In the ensuing period Joel held various positions, briefly serving as a rock critic for the magazine Changes and contributing to advertising jingles before signing as a solo artist with Family Productions in 1971. The agreement contained a lifetime clause that remained undisclosed to him at the time and later generated ongoing royalty obligations even after he departed the label. Turning away from Attila’s aggressive sound, he presented himself as a reflective singer-songwriter on his November 1971 debut Cold Spring Harbor. A mastering error caused the album to be issued at incorrect tape speeds, a flaw that persisted until a corrected version appeared in 1984. He supported the release with modest touring, opening for the Beach Boys and Badfinger, yet expressed dissatisfaction with both his performances and the record’s sonics. Managerial changes and Family Productions’ financial and legal setbacks further delayed any prompt follow-up.

Relocating to Los Angeles in early 1972, Joel performed under the alias Bill Martin for six months at the Executive Room lounge. Around this time Philadelphia’s WMMR-FM began airing a live rendition of “Captain Jack,” generating East Coast interest that culminated in a Columbia Records contract later that year. The prior Family Productions agreement required Columbia to remit twenty-five cents per album sold while retaining the Family and Remus logos on all subsequent releases. By late 1973 his Columbia debut Piano Man had appeared, climbing gradually to a peak of number 27 in spring 1974; its title track, drawn from his lounge experiences, became his first hit and signature song. He assembled a touring band that summer and supported national dates with the J. Geils Band and the Doobie Brothers. His second album, Streetlife Serenade, followed by year’s end, reaching number 35 in early 1975 and yielding the sardonic hit “The Entertainer.” Success prompted a management shift to James William Guercio and Larry Fitzgerald’s Caribou organization, after which Joel returned to New York. The 1976 album Turnstiles celebrated his homecoming through tracks such as “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” and “New York State of Mind,” though the sessions proved contentious; he ultimately dismissed producer Guercio, assumed production duties himself, exited Caribou, and appointed his wife Elizabeth as manager.

Turnstiles peaked at number 122, yet “New York State of Mind” later emerged as one of his most recognized compositions. The subsequent album, The Stranger, proved pivotal; released in fall 1977, it initiated a durable partnership with producer Phil Ramone. By year’s end the set had reached number two, achieved platinum status, and spawned the Top 40 singles “Just the Way You Are”—later honored with the 1978 Grammy for Record of the Year and Song of the Year—“Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),” “She’s Always a Woman,” and “Only the Good Die Young.” The Stranger ultimately attained RIAA Diamond certification after exceeding ten million units sold. Joel followed with 52nd Street in fall 1978; the album occupied the top position for eight weeks, sold over two million copies within its first month, featured hits “My Life,” “Big Shot,” and “Honesty,” and earned the 1979 Grammy for Album of the Year. Among his 1979 performances was a notable appearance at Cuba’s Havana Jam festival alongside Kris Kristofferson, Stephen Stills, and Weather Report.

Glass Houses arrived in spring 1980 as a tougher-edged response to punk and new wave currents; it topped the U.S. chart for six weeks, generated Top 40 singles including “You May Be Right,” “It’s Still Rock’n’Roll to Me,” “Don’t Ask Me Why,” and “Sometimes a Fantasy,” and captured the 1980 Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male. Songs in the Attic, a 1981 live collection emphasizing pre-stardom material, produced fresh Top 40 versions of “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” and “She’s Got a Way.” While completing a more ambitious compositional statement, Joel sustained a serious motorcycle accident in spring 1982 that fractured his wrist and necessitated extensive surgery; he finalized his divorce from Elizabeth that July. The Nylon Curtain appeared that fall as a concept album addressing baby-boomer experiences; although commercially modest, it earned stronger critical notice and yielded Top 20 hits “Pressure” and “Allentown.” He swiftly followed with 1983’s An Innocent Man, a multi-platinum tribute to doo-wop, early rock, and soul styles that included “Uptown Girl,” “Tell Her About It,” “The Longest Time,” and the title track. Several songs referenced model Christie Brinkley, to whom Joel became engaged around the album’s release. Throughout 1983 and 1984 he actively embraced MTV with frequent video airplay, notably the Brinkley-starring clip for “Uptown Girl.” The couple married in spring 1985.

Later that summer Joel issued the double-disc Greatest Hits, Vols. 1 & 2, which added two new Top 40 tracks—“You’re Only Human (Second Wind)” and “The Night Is Still Young”—while reaching number six and achieving multi-platinum status domestically and abroad. Summer 1986 brought the Top Ten single “Modern Woman” from the Ruthless People soundtrack, alongside the driving hit “A Matter of Trust” on The Bridge, released that August. The album featured a duet with Ray Charles on “Baby Grand” and represented the final release to carry the Family Productions logo. In spring 1987 Joel launched an extensive Soviet Union tour, among the first large-scale pop productions by a major American artist in the region; the Leningrad shows were captured on the fall 1987 live double album Kohuept. One performance included an onstage outburst in which he overturned his electric piano and damaged a microphone stand, an incident for which he later apologized. The following year remained relatively quiet aside from voicing Dodger in Disney’s 1988 animated feature Oliver & Company, though internal conflicts surfaced.

An audit exposed significant accounting irregularities, leading Joel to dismiss longtime manager and former brother-in-law Frank Weber; a subsequent 1989 lawsuit sought ninety million dollars for alleged fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. Against this backdrop Joel recorded and released his twelfth studio album, Storm Front, in fall 1989. Its lead single “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” with its rapid-fire chronicle of historical events, reached number one and resonated widely with students. Joel parted ways with his band except for drummer Liberty DeVitto and replaced longtime producer Phil Ramone with Mick Jones of Foreigner. Despite surrounding turbulence, Storm Front topped the U.S. chart, earned multi-platinum certification, and included “The Downeaster Alexa,” a maritime narrative that became a regional anthem for Long Island fishermen.

Joel conducted a major U.S. tour extending into 1991. In January of that year the court awarded him two million dollars in a partial judgment against Weber and later dismissed a thirty-million-dollar countersuit. That same year the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences presented him with a Grammy Living Legend award shared with Quincy Jones, Johnny Cash, and Aretha Franklin. Additional honors and disputes marked the next years: an honorary doctorate from Fairfield University in 1991, a ninety-million-dollar lawsuit filed in summer 1992 against former attorney Allen Grubman for fraud, breach of contract, and malpractice (settled out of court), and another honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music. He returned in summer 1993 with River of Dreams, which debuted at number one propelled by its Top Ten title track; the cover featured artwork by then-wife Christie Brinkley, from whom he later divorced amicably. As the decade progressed Joel entered legacy mode, reuniting with Elton John for the successful Face to Face retrospective package tours that became a recurring series. He delivered college lectures in 1996, released Greatest Hits Volume III in 1997, and saw Garth Brooks score a number-one country hit with “Shameless.” Ray Charles inducted him into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. Joel closed the decade with a Times Square New Year’s Eve performance documented on the 2001 live album 2000 Years: The Millennium Concert.

Having largely stepped back from pop recording, Joel issued the instrumental album Fantasies & Delusions in 2001. Twyla Tharp subsequently adapted his catalog into the 2002 Broadway musical Movin’ Out. He ventured into children’s literature with the 2004 book Goodnight, My Angel: A Lullaby. The 2005 box set My Lives compiled rarities, demos, and live recordings spanning his career from Hassles and Attila through the River of Dreams tour. A 2006 retrospective culminated in a record-setting twelve-night sold-out engagement at Madison Square Garden, preserved on the live album 12 Gardens Live. In 2007 he released his first original composition since River of Dreams, the ballad “All My Life,” followed by “Christmas in Fallujah,” written for Cass Dillon with proceeds benefiting Homes For Our Troops. He resumed regular touring, highlighted by the July 2008 closing concerts at Shea Stadium that featured guests Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, and Roger Daltrey and were later chronicled in the 2011 documentary and album Last Play at Shea.

Over subsequent years Joel increased his public appearances and interviews. A 2013 U.K. tour preceded his first New York solo headlining show in five years at Barclays Center; he soon announced an ongoing monthly residency at Madison Square Garden, performing twenty-one concerts in 2014 alone with the option to continue indefinitely. He supplemented these dates with additional U.S. shows and promoted both the concerts and the expanded 2014 release A Matter of Trust: The Bridge to Russia—an augmented edition of Kohuept containing two live CDs and a documentary—with numerous interviews, including a live town-hall broadcast with Howard Stern. That year he also contributed to the tribute album The Art of McCartney, his final new studio recording of the decade. Family priorities dominated the remainder of the period: two daughters born between 2015 and 2017 with fourth wife Alexis Roderick, alongside continued East Coast performances occasionally supported by promotional appearances. After the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic halted activities, Joel resumed his Madison Square Garden residency in November 2021 and sustained it through the following years. In February 2024 he released the comeback single “Turn the Lights Back On,” his first new song since the 2007 charity track “Christmas in Fallujah,” coinciding with a prominent Grammy Awards performance.