You can’t have a musical conversation on Long Island without a mention of the great Billy Joel. Although he has not released an album in more than 20 years, his musical catalog is so deep and varied that he can play live shows for the rest of his life (and it seems like he just might) without releasing another new song and we would never get bored.
Here we present some crazy facts about Billy Joel.
Personal life
- Billy Joel was born William Martin Joel on May 9, 1949
- Joel's father, Howard Joel, was a classical pianist, and his mother, Rosalind Nyman, was a homemaker
- Both of his parents were Jewish
- In high school, Joel was in a band called The Echoes and performed under the name Billy Martin
- Joel dropped out of school to pursue a career in music
- He began his music career in the late 1960s as a member of the band The Hassles, but the band broke up in 1969
- In 1969 Joel was also briefly in a heavy-metal band called Attila
- Joel is also an avid motorcycle enthusiast
- In 2020, Joel’s home was broken into and 12 of his motorcycles were damaged
- Billy Joel has been married four times, and has three children
- He was married to supermodel Christie Brinkley from 1985 to 1994
- They have a daughter together, Alexa Ray Joel
- Joel has been married four times and has three children
Photo: Shutterstock.
Songs, Albums and Performances
- He is the only performer to play both Yankee and Shea Stadiums
- In the early 1970s, Billy Joel signed a record deal with Columbia Records and released his first solo album, "Cold Spring Harbor," in 1971
- Joel has written and recorded over 30 top 40 hits
- His song, "Piano Man" was originally written as a fictionalized account of the singer’s experiences as a piano player at a Los Angeles bar
- It was his first single in North America released on November 2, 1973
- The lyric, “the waitress is practicing politics,” was about his ex-wife Elizabeth Weber who moved with him out to LA and also worked at the bar
- "It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me" was his first number 1 hit in 1980
- The Stranger was Joel's breakthrough album with four hit songs
- It was produced by Phil Ramone
- The album title “52nd Street” refers to the street in Manhattan that was home to many of the city's jazz clubs in the 1940s and 1950s
- "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" is one of his favorite songs and is a staple of his live shows
- “Glass Houses” cover art features Joel in a leather jacket ready to throw a rock through the window of his real-life glass house in Cove Neck
- His album "The Nylon Curtain" was inspired by The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
- “We Didn't Start the Fire” was released in 1989
- Joel wrote the song after John Lennon’s son Julian paid a visit to his studio
- Lennon and his friend were talking about the 1980s and Joel was talking about the era of his youth
- That conversation prompted Joel to start writing what would become the lyrics to the song
- The song chronicles major world events and cultural phenomena that occurred between 1949 and 1989 - from Joel’s birth to the year he wrote the song
- The events are almost entirely chronological
- A parody of the song used as a promo spot for Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Joel played the last performances ever at Shea Stadium before it was demolished
- “The Last Play at Shea” is a 2010 documentary about the 2008 concerts
- In 2017, Joel wore a yellow Jewish Star on his jacket during a concert in New York City to protest a rise in antisemitism
- In October 2022, his iconic 1990 concert Live At Yankee Stadium was released in theaters for a two-night global fan event
Photo: Shutterstock.
Records and accolades
- He is the fourth best-selling solo artist of all time in the U.S. according to Recording Industry Association of America
- The 1985 compilation Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II is the second best-selling album by a solo artist (Michael Jackson’s Thriller is number one)
- On July 18, 2018, Governor Andrew Cuomo proclaimed the day to be Billy Joel Day in New York state to mark his 100th performance at Madison Square Garden
- In 2015, Joel was given an honorary doctorate of music from Stony Brook University
- Billy Joel was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in 2013
- In 2013, Joel also received the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from the Library of Congress, becoming the first non-classical musician to receive the award
- In 2013, Joel became the first artist to perform at Madison Square Garden for a record-breaking 65th time
- He was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006
- In 2004, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
- Joel was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999
- In 1992, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame
- In 1987, Billy Joel became the first American rock star to perform a series of full blown concerts in the Soviet Union, playing in Moscow and Leningrad
- He has sold over 150 million records worldwide
- Billy Joel has won five Grammy Awards throughout his career
- Joel's 1978 album "52nd Street" became the first commercially available album to be released on compact disc (CD)
