Billy Joel
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William Martin "Billy" Joel (born May 9, 1949 in Bronx, New York) is a singer, songwriter, and pianist. He recorded a huge number of rock hits from 1973 (beginning with the single "Piano Man") to his retirement from recording pop music in 1993. He is one of the very few pop artists to have Top Ten hits in the '70s, '80s, and '90s. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he has sold in excess of 100 million records worldwide [1] and is the sixth best selling artist in the United States, according to the RIAA. Joel's induction into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame (Class of 1992), and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Class of 1999) has further solidified his status as one of America's leading music icons. He has continued to tour occasionally (usually with Elton John) in addition to writing and recording classical music.
Early years
Joel "was born in '49, a Cold War kid in McCarthy time," as he wrote in his song "Leningrad." Joel first lived in the modern-day South Bronx, New York, an ethnically white neighborhood at the time. His family then moved to Long Island, to Levittown and then to Hicksville, both working class towns in Nassau County [2]. His father, Howard Joel, was a Jewish Holocaust survivor from Germany and his mother, Rosalind Nyman, was born in England, to an agnostic Jewish family. His parents later divorced, and his father moved back to Eastern Europe. His half-brother Alexander Joel is an acclaimed classical pianist in Europe.
From an early age, Joel had an intense interest in music, especially classical music. He began piano lessons at an early age, and his interest in music instead of sports was the source for much teasing and bullying in his early years. As a teenager, Joel took up boxing so that he would be able to defend himself. He boxed successfully on the amateur Golden Gloves circuit for a short time, but he abandoned the sport shortly after having his nose broken in a boxing match. He would later become more involved in music as a career.
Joel attended Hicksville High School and was to have graduated in 1967. However, he was one English credit short to meet the graduation requirement; he overslept on the day of an important exam due to his late-night musician's lifestyle [3]. Faced with a summer in school to complete this requirement, he decided not to continue, telling an interviewer years later that he told school officials, "I'm not going to Columbia University, I'm going to Columbia Records!" He left high school without a diploma to begin a career in music. In 1992, his requirement was waived, and he received his diploma at Hicksville High's graduation ceremony 25 years after he left the school.
Musical career
Joel joined his first band The Echoes at age fourteen (which later would become The Lost Souls), In the late 60s, he performed with The Hassles, a Long Island band that had some local success ("Every Step I Take," "You Got Me Hummin'") and would release two albums with the group. He then formed the pop rock band Attila with Hassles drummer Jon Small. Attila released an album which bombed, and the duo disbanded. Small and his wife broke up as well, as Joel had started an affair with her at about this time.
Upon losing his record contract with Attila, Joel suffered severe depression, and he was admitted into Meadowbrook Hospital after ingesting furniture polish in a half-hearted suicide attempt. [4] The note he left eventually became the lyrics to his song "Tomorrow Is Today."
Early albums 1970-1976
Cold Spring Harbor (1971)
Joel signed his first solo record contract with Artie Ripp of Family Productions and subsequently recorded his first solo album. Cold Spring Harbor (a reference to the Long Island town 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. Combined with the onerous terms of the Family Productions contract that guaranteed him very little money from the sales of his albums, Joel fled to Los Angeles, California with Elizabeth Weber and played in the "Executive Lounge" under the name Bill Martin. Joel married Elizabeth in Los Angeles in May, 1971. 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 being released as live performances in 1981 on Songs in the Attic. Since then they have become regular concert numbers.
Cold Spring Harbor was remixed remastered and rereleased in 1983 after An Innocent Man
Piano Man (1973)
His experiences in Los Angeles connected him with executives from Columbia Records, 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 Piano Man was released in late 1973 and was certified Gold. 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.
Streetlife Serenade (1974)
Joel remained in Los Angeles to write Streetlife Serenade, his second album under the Columbia label. References to both suburbia and the inner city 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 bites the hands that feed him 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 3:48 and the edited single which is 3:05. The instrumental "Root Beer Rag" is a rollicking trip reminiscent of Scott Joplin.
Turnstiles (1976)
In 1976, Joel released Turnstiles, an appropriately titled album about transitions, both geographical and professional. Written to mark Joel's move back to the East Coast after spending three years in California, the opening track, "Say Goodbye To Hollywood," serves notice that Joel is cutting ties and making a fresh start. While "I've Loved These Days" looks back with a mixture of longing and regret upon an early-70s L.A. characterized by excess, Turnstiles ultimately makes it clear that Joel is ready to go home again. Indeed, "New York State of Mind," a love song to Joel's native state, has become a classic, and one of the de facto official songs of the state of New York.
On Turnstiles, Joel used his own hand-picked musicians in the studio for the first time, and he took a more hands-on role, producing the album himself. These risks all paid off, and the album boasted a considerably more "live" feeling than prior efforts. Nevertheless, Joel's signature blend of cynicism and self-consciousness continued to find expression in songs such as "Angry Young Man," a song that (thanks in part to its blistering piano "Prelude" that introduces it) would become a mainstay of his concerts for years.
Becoming a superstar 1977-1981
The Stranger (1977)
For his album The Stranger, Columbia Records united Joel with producer Phil Ramone. The album cranked out four Top 40 hits on the Billboard Charts in the US, and was a worldwide smash. Album sales exceeded Columbia's previous top album, Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water 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 Storm Front.
The Stranger netted Joel Grammy nominations, for Album of the Year and Song of the Year, for "Just the Way You Are," which was written as a gift to his wife Elizabeth and became his highest charting song to date in the United States. Just The Way You Are won Grammys for Song of the Year & Record of the Year.
52nd Street (1978)
With his star power soaring, Joel was faced with meeting high expectations on his next album. 52nd Street was conceived as a day in Manhattan, and was named after the block where Columbia Records' office was located. The album did not disappoint, as fans purchased over seven million copies on the strength of songs "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 sitcom, "Bosom Buddies," which featured actor Tom Hanks in one of his earliest roles. 52nd Street was the first album to be released on Compact Disc in Japan (1982). 52nd Street won Grammys for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male & Album of the Year.
Glass Houses (1980)
Joel stated that his next album would be more of a hard-rock record, as he was trying to prove that he would not turn into a crooner. Glass Houses was released in 1980, and the first thing heard after taking the album out of its sleeve was the sound of breaking glass introducing the guitar-driven "You May Be Right," also the album's first single (#7, May 1980). However, its follow-up, "It's Still Rock And Roll To Me", was more of a toe-tapper. It eventually became Joel's first Billboard Number 1 song in July 1980. His third single, "Don't Ask Me Why" (#19, September 1980), incorporated a Latin rather than rock beat. Although it became a ubiquitous AM radio staple during the summer of 1980, his critics were disappointed at his choice of singles. Glass Houses was Joel's biggest hit since The Stranger in terms of the number of records sold, as it soared to the top of the charts becoming his second consecutive # 1 album. Glass Houses won the Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male. It would also win the American Music Award for Favorite Album, Pop/Rock category.
Songs In The Attic (1981)
His next release, Songs In The Attic, was comprised of live performances of less well-known songs from the beginning of his career. Songs In The Attic was recorded during arena and club shows in June and July of 1980.
Building on success 1982-1986
The Nylon Curtain (1982)
The Nylon Curtain was considered by many Joel's most ambitious album, but it came with a high physical and emotional price tag. He had begun work on it in the spring of 1982 when he was involved in a car accident. The driver ran a red light and collided with Billy, who was on his motorcycle; a root beer colored Harley-Davidson Electra Glide. His left wrist was broken and his hand badly damaged. As Joel himself tells it, the police officer on the scene read his license as "William Joel," put two and two together, and said, "Hey lady, you just ran over Billy Joel!" After the woman learned who she hit, she asked for his autograph, at which he offered to use his bleeding wrists instead of a pen. Due to surgery (which included the temporary insertion of five pins into his wrist) and a month in the hospital, production of the album was temporarily shut down while Joel recovered.
An additional obstacle for the singer was the breakdown of his marriage to Weber, an event partially blamed on the stress created by Weber's management of her husband's career. In the fall of 1982, Joel and his wife separated. In an interview, he said that the recording of The Nylon Curtain was his way of dealing with his separation from Weber.
In the meantime, Joel's first video special, Live on Long Island, was recorded at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on December 9, 1982.
On July 20, 1983, the couple's divorce was finalized. In accordance with the divorce agreement, Joel's ex-wife took half of the singer's assets. "You're always in the desert looking for the oasis and all that's out there with you is the piano?-this big black beast with 88 teeth
50,000 packs of cigarettes later, you start getting it."
All of his sacrifices paid off, however, as The Nylon Curtain peaked at # 7 on the charts behind the popular singles "Allentown", "Goodnight Saigon", the theme song for Road Trip syndicate, and "Pressure".
Following his tour supporting Nylon Curtain, Joel retreated to the island of St. Bart's for rest and relaxation. At the hotel's bar, he met supermodel Christie Brinkley, who had been divorced from her husband Jean-François Allaux. They eventually became a couple and married on March 23, 1985.
An Innocent Man (1983)
The song "Uptown Girl" 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 such a guy like himself. It became a worldwide hit upon its release, and Joel's sole #1 in the United Kingdom. The resulting album, An Innocent Man was compiled as a tribute to the doo-wop music of the 1960s, and also resulted in Joel's second Billboard #1 hit, "Tell Her About It." The album, which reached #4 on the charts, boasted six top-30 singles, the most of any album in Joel's catalog. The album would also be nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy, but it would lose to Michael Jackson's Thriller (album).
Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and 2 (1985)
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 four-sided album and 2-CD set, with the songs in sequence of when they were released. The new songs "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" and "The Night Is Still Young" were recorded and released as singles to support the album.
Greatest Hits was a highly successful, selling over twenty million copies worldwide and becoming the top selling double album of all time by a solo artist (and second overall after The Wall by Pink Floyd). It has since been certified diamond by the RIAA, and is the 6th best selling album in the United States.
Coinciding with the Greatest Hits album release, Joel released a two-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:
* While all the longer hits ("Piano Man," "Captain Jack," "Goodnight Saigon") are fully intact, many other shorter songs ("Pressure," "Just The Way You Are," "My Life") were shortened significantly in the 1985 release. Oddly enough, the included booklet lists all of the lyrics, even the parts cut for time. These songs are fully restored in the re-release.
* The 1985 release features the live version of "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" from Songs in the Attic. The version from Turnstiles was used for the 1998 re-released.
* The 1998 re-release features enhanced content due to advancements in CD technology over the previous 13 years.
The Bridge (1986)
Joel had already scored a hit with "Modern Woman" from the 1985 movie, "Ruthless People," (starring Bette Midler, Danny DeVito and Judge Reinhold) when he began work on the album that would become The Bridge in early 1986. As a father for the first time, Joel's perspective had changed dramatically and he had found the process of songwriting to be difficult. The song "Temptation" brought out many of the feelings he had about relating to his new daughter. Joel wound up having to start recording before he completed all of the writing he wanted to do, and the process proved to be difficult. Fortunately, he had scheduled time with some friends in the studio. Ray Charles contributed vocals and music to the song "Baby Grand" with Joel, and Steve Winwood played Hammond organ on the song "Getting Closer." The final song recorded for the album was "Code Of Silence." Cyndi Lauper, who was recording her album True Colors in an adjacent studio had heard that Joel was having problems finishing his album, so she helped him complete this song and contributed backing vocals. To return the favor, Joel backed Lauper up on the song "Maybe He'll Know" off of her album.
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 Les Paul-autographed Fender guitar. The ballad "This Is The Time" also charted, and has been a favorite on the prom 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 My Lives).
At around this time, Billy completed voice work on Oliver & Company, released in 1988. A loose adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, Billy brought both his acting and musical talents to the film as Dodger. For the film, Billy recorded a memorable number 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 Disney cartoons as a child.
The Russia period 1987-1989
Throughout his tour supporting The Bridge, Joel and his handlers started planning a trip to the Soviet Union over the summer of 1987. He would be the first American rock act to play there since the Berlin Wall went up, a fact not lost on history buff Joel. There would be six live performances, three each at indoor arenas in Moscow and Leningrad. 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 Communist Party, 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.
КОНЦЕРТ (1987)
The album КОНЦЕРТ, Russian for "In Concert," was released in the fall of 1987. As a live album, it captures the energy of a Billy Joel show during this period; however, it became painfully obvious that his voice had lost some of its youthful timbre. In one particularly difficult section during an energetic "Uptown Girl" he has trouble catching his breath. Singer Peter Hewlitt was also 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.
Later albums 1989-1994
Storm Front (1989)
The song "We Didn't Start the Fire," the first single from the album Storm Front, was released in September 1989. The song was meant to convey the fact that the world has never been stable, and nostalgia for "good old days" glossed over difficult times as well. Conceived as a rap or a more rhythmic song than anything in Joel's career previously, the lyrics of the song consisted of names and phrases relating to newsmaking events of the 40 year span of Billy Joel's life to date. Unlike his other songs, the lyrics were written before the music, resulting in a loss of the melodic emphasis characteristic of his work. Critics assailed Joel for this approach, but the song generated significant buzz and quickly became Joel's third US Number 1 hit after its release. The song has spawned a number of web sites that hyperlink the words of the song to historical news articles on the internet. Joel has stated on numerous occasions that the song stands on its own, and he does not feel the need to update or rewrite the song to take news since 1989 into account.
Storm Front was released in October, and it eventually became Joel's first Number 1 album since Glass Houses, nine years previously. Storm Front was Joel's first album since Turnstiles to have been recorded without Phil Ramone as producer. For this album, he wanted a new sound, and worked with Mick Jones of Foreigner fame. Joel also brought in some fresh faces to join the band, including talented multi-instrumentalist Crystal Taliefero, 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 "Leningrad," written after Joel met a clown in the Russian city during his tour in 1987, and "The Downeaster Alexa," 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 "And So It Goes."
In 1992, Joel sued former manager and ex-brother-in-law Frank Weber (ex-wife Elizabeth's brother) for $95 million after accounting irregularities were discovered. The case was later settled out of court.
River Of Dreams (1993)
Joel started work on River Of Dreams in early 1993. Released under fanfare that August, the album art was a colorful painting by Christie Brinkley that was a series of scenes from each of the songs on the album. The lead single quickly moved up the charts, and the album sold very well. The last song on the album basically announced his impending retirement under the title "Famous Last Words." A worldwide tour followed, and Joel devised his schedule such that he wouldn't spend more than a few weeks at a time away from his family during his tour. However, Joel and Brinkley separated; they divorced on August 25, 1994. Brinkley's separation from Joel and subsequent marriage to developer Richard Taubman took place after surviving a helicopter crash with Taubman.
Semi-retirement 1994-present
In August 1995, Billy Joel's long-time bassist Doug Stegmeyer committed suicide in his Long Island home. Stegmeyer had played on every one of Joel's albums from Turnstiles through The Bridge.
In 1999, Joel performed at New York's Madison Square Garden 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 four hours and would later be released as 2000 Years: The Millennium Concert
In 2001, Joel released Fantasies & Delusions, a collection of classical piano pieces. All were written by Billy Joel and performed by Richard Joo. Joel often uses bits of these songs as interludes in live performances. The album topped the classical charts at # 1.
Joel has toured extensively with Elton John on a series of "Face to Face" tours. During these shows, the two have played each other's songs and performed duets.
In 2005, Joel released a compilation, My Lives, which is largely a compilation of demos, B-tracks, and live/alternate versions to hit songs. The compilation also includes the Umixit software, in which people can remix "Zanzibar" and a live version of "I Go To Extremes" with their PC. Also, a DVD of a show from the River of Dreams tour is included.
On January 7, 2006, Joel began a tour across the United States. Having not written any new songs, he featured a sampling of all his songs in his career, including his major hits. His tour includes an unprecedented twelve sold-out concerts over several months at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
At the Madison Square Garden performance of April 19, 2006 Joel announced that this record-breaking eleventh sold-out show of the year at the venue was being recorded for release as a live album. (The previous record holder was Bruce Springsteen according to the event program.) A historic command performance was made before a wildly enthusiastic, multi-generational, hometown crowd. Standing ovations were provided for most of Joel's works, as well as for outstanding side performances by lead guitarist Byrnes, Richard Cannata on saxophone, and for a rollicking lead vocal version of "Highway to Hell" performed by Chainsaw (a member of Joel's road staff.)
At the Hartford Civic Center (Hartford CT) performance of April 22, 2006 a banner was displayed and raised to the rafter for the venue record-breaking 22nd sold out show in Hartford by Joel.
At his 12th Madison Square Garden show on that tour, April 24, 2006, MSG raised a banner of the #12 to the rafters on top of the Garden to join the numbers of Rangers and Knicks players that have had their numbers retired by their respective teams. This event made Joel the first ever non-sports individual to have his "number" retired at The Garden.
The tour is scheduled to move on to Europe during the summer of '06, and is rumored to come back to the States in the fall.
Songwriting
Joel's songwriting cannot be separated from the life that inspired so much of his work. He has made many references in his lyrics to locations in the New York City metropolitan area, particularly Long Island, in his songs. For example, the "Miracle Mile" line in 1980's "It's Still Rock & Roll to Me" refers to the affluent shopping district located on Northern Boulevard in the community of Manhasset. In his 1973 song "The Ballad of Billy the Kid," he describes a certain "Billy" as being from Oyster Bay, the municipality in which the hamlet of Hicksville 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 Oyster Bay bartender.
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 Los Angeles piano bar in the early 1970s, and "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant," purportedly written about either the Syosset mainstay Christiano's or a similar eatery in New York City's Little Italy. His song "Vienna" was supposedly written based on a visit to his father in Europe, while "Big Shot" was based on a bad date with Mick Jagger's ex-wife Bianca.
Joel was not raised very religiously, though he attended Roman Catholic mass with his Catholic friends, inspiring some of his religion-themed lyrics. "Only The Good Die Young" is supposedly about a high-school crush with a very religious girl. Similarly, his song "River of Dreams" has a spiritual theme to it, as well as a Gospel sound. The former created abit 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 St.Louis, he had been specifically asked not to perform the song during the show. In response, Joel played it twice.
Joel paid tribute to life in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in one of his most popular songs, "Allentown", released in 1982. The song depicts living in industrial Allentown, Pennsylvania during the economic recession in the early 1980s. Allentown is a town in Northeast Pennsylvania about 45 minutes away from the Pocono mountains. The town was in bad shape as the once-thriving steel factories were closing down.
Billy Joel did not grow up in Allentown - he grew up in Levittown, on Long Island. In an interview with James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio, he compared Allentown with his hometown while he was growing up, noting the similarities. The distinctive chord at the beginning was originally a mistake, but Joel decided he liked the way it sounded and left it in.
Joel's family has also been a motivation for lyrical content; he penned "Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)" for his daughter, after she asked what happens when people die. Similarly, his song "The Downeaster Alexa" combined his love for his daughter with a depiction of the plight of boat captains in the offshore fishing industry. "Uptown Girl" was a love song about the seemingly mismatched romance between himself and Christie Brinkley, Alexa's mother and his second wife.
Joel has always had a trusting, open attitude in both his business and personal relationships. This attitude was manifested as advice in the song "Tell Her About It", as well as in an expression of his own needs in "Honesty" and "And So It Goes." Joel also describes the elements of trust needed to make a relationship work in "A Matter of Trust." The disenchantment he reaped from placing his trust in the wrong agent, however, was the basis for his bitter "The Great Wall of China."
The song "We Didn't Start the Fire" lists historical events from his birth in 1949 through the mid-1980s?-the first thirty-five years of Joel's life, reflecting his fascination with culture and history. The song "Leningrad" shows Joel's appreciation for the history of the Soviet Union and his feelings about the Cold War, during which he was raised. Before Joel went into the music business, he had considered becoming a history teacher; later in his career, he earned a New York state teaching license.
In addition, having attempted suicide earlier in his life, which resulted in the song "Tomorrow Is Today", Joel composed a song on request called "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" specifically to strengthen those contemplating suicide to choose life instead.
Joel has recently been returning to his fascination with classical music. Fantasies and Delusions, his first album of classical pieces, received a tepid response from critics but went to #1 on the classical charts.
Influences
If there is a particularly unique quality about Billy Joel's music, it has been his eclectic songwriting. His style often reflects the wide variety of music he has absorbed over his life, from a young piano-playing child from 1950s Long Island, to teenager growing up 1960s America, to a rock keyboardist in the late 1960s, to a hippie pianist/songwriter of the 1970s, to his popular success in the 1980s.
His music reflects influences from many different genres including European classical composers, 1960s doo wop, Broadway/Tin Pan Alley, jazz, blues, punk, ska, gospel, pop, and even Russian folk songs, to straight-up rock & roll. 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.
Some of his more well-known, individual musical influences include:
* Ray Charles
* Dave Brubeck
* Sam Cooke
* The Rolling Stones
* The Beatles
* Otis Redding
* Ludwig van Beethoven
* Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
* Wilson Pickett
Joel has denied any influence of Elton John on his music, but there exists some similarity between the music at the beginning of each performer's career. Joel was also declared "Best New Artist" in Cashbox magazine after the success of Piano Man. The magazine declared him "the next Jim Croce" based on the storytelling of the "Piano Man" single. Joel had also been compared to James Taylor and Arlo Guthrie early in his career.
Band
In the mid 1970s, the touring and studio lineup of Joel's band stabilized. The main lineup consisted of:
* Billy Joel - lead vocals, piano, synthesizer, harmonica
* Liberty DeVitto - drums
* Doug Stegmeyer - bass guitar
* Russell Javors - rhythm guitars
* David Brown - lead guitars
* Richie Cannata - saxophones, flute, organ
This was the lineup for Joel's first live album, Songs In The Attic.
The 1980s and 1990s 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 Crystal Taliefero and Mark Rivera joined and remain in his band to this day. Rivera had taken over the prominent saxophone solo in the song "New York State of Mind" that had previously been performed by Cannata (and was re-recorded by Rivera for the Greatest Hits version of the song). The 1993 River of Dreams tour saw the addition of Dave Rosenthal on keyboards who also remains with the band. Tommy Byrnes has become a frequent band member on guitar and was both a musical consultant and band member in the Movin' Out musical. For the 2006 tour, Joel did not invite DeVitto back as drummer. Richie Cannata returns on saxophones, along with Mark Rivera and Crystal Taliefero.
Though he has sold millions of records, won Grammy Awards, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and had numerous top ten hits, Joel has generally not been well-understood by popular media. His eclectic musical tastes make him a difficult artist to categorize in a music industry that prefers easy categorization. Despite his success, he has sometimes been a target for music critics. Some critics have commented about the tin pan alley quality of some of his early music, though many would agree that songs like "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" intentionally sound like a Broadway showstopper. Joel has been sometimes labeled a poser, trying to pass off different styles of music as his own; an old interview, where he described his "Glass Houses" album as a "rock album", was not particularly well-received. Some critics have found Joel to be cocky or arrogant in interviews, and finally, he has been criticized for trying to be a "stand-up comedian" at concerts, a quality many critics thought distracted from the music and disrupted the flow of a concert. Joel has sometimes returned fire live in concert, where he has read negative reviews to his audience, just before publicly ripping the criticisms to shreds and then starting up a new song, much to the delight of his fans.
Marriages
Joel married his business manager Elizabeth Weber on May 20, 1971. The marriage ended in divorce on July 20, 1983.
Joel went on to marry supermodel Christie Brinkley on March 23, 1985. Their marriage produced one child, daughter Alexa Ray Joel, born January 1, 1986. Alexa was given the middle name of Ray after Ray Charles, one of Joel's musical idols. This marriage ended with divorce on August 25, 1994, although the couple remains quite friendly.
In 2004, Joel married 23 year-old Katie Lee. Lee is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford. Ohio. At the time of the wedding, Joel was 54. Joel's daughter, Alexa Ray, 18, served as maid of honor. Joel's second wife, Christie Brinkley, attended the union and gave the couple her blessing. Lee works as a restaurant correspondent for the PBS show, George Hirsch: Living it Up!. In 2006, Katie Lee hosted Bravo's Top Chef.
Alcohol problems
Joel has a history of car accidents and a fall, including several that occurred while he allegedly was under the influence of alcohol.
Joel entered the Betty Ford Center in March 2005 for treatment of alcohol abuse after what his publicist called "a recent bout of severe gastrointestinal distress". He checked out of the center in April 2005. A friend who saw him after he checked out said that Joel has completely sworn off all alcohol. Joel was treated previously for alcoholism in 2002 when he spent two weeks at Silver Hill Hospital in Connecticut.
Master classes
As a result of his love of teaching and music, Joel has been passing on his hard-learned experience with the music industry and as an artist to a new generation. Some of these have been recorded and are available, such as the fourth CD in his Greatest Hits box set. The classes are structured as a question-and-answer session with the audience in a small amphitheatre or collegiate lecture hall. Joel appears alone with a piano and without the benefit of his full band for the roughly two-hour program. He speaks candidly about his life and his music, with interspersed musical requests from the audience. Some of the most entertaining segments of his program are when he explains the inception and development of his songs from the genesis of the initial idea.
Joel brought some of this material to James Lipton's Inside the Actors Studio television show for a two-hour episode in 1999.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Joel
Piano Man (Real Version) :: Billy Joel
It's nine o'clock on a Saturday
The regular crowd shuffles in
There's an old man sitting next to me
Making love to his tonic and gin
He says, "Son, can you play me a melody?
I'm not really sure how it goes
But it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete
When I wore a younger man's clothes"
La la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da
Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feelin' alright
Now John at the bar is a friend of mine
He gets me my drinks for free
And he's quick with a joke or to light up your smoke
But there's someplace that he'd rather be
He says, "Bill, I believe this is killing me."
As a smile ran away from his face
"Well I'm sure that I could be a movie star
If I could get out of this place"
Oh, la la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da
Now Paul is a real estate novelist
Who never had time for a wife
And he's talkin' with Davy who's still in the Navy
And probably will be for life
And the waitress is practising politics
As the businessmen slowly get stoned
Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness
But it's better than drinkin' alone
(piano bridge)
Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feelin' alright
It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday
As the manager gives me a smile
'Cause he knows that it's me they've been comin' to see
To forget about life for a while
And the piano sounds like a carnival
And the microphone smells like a beer
And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar
And say, "Man, what are you doin' here?"
Oh, la la la, de de da
La la, de de da da da
Sing us a song, you're the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we're all in the mood for a melody
And you've got us feelin' alright
I think, perhaps, it was a great chant or ritual of some kind.
