The Music of Billy Joel

Billy Joel is a famous American pianist, singer, songwriter and composer. He came into this world on May 9, 1949 as William Martin Joel in Long Island, New York. He was born to a German-Jewish holocaust survivor and accomplished pianist Howard and his wife Rosalind Nyman. Joel began studying the piano in 1953, taught by the noted American pianist and a musician/songwriter. He began his music career with the band Echoes, later changing the name to Lost Souls. He is considered to be one of the most popular recording artists and the biggest entertainers in the world. Joel became famous with his signature song “Piano Man”.

After leaving Lost Souls in 1967 Joel joined another band called The Hassles. The group was signed with United Artists Record Company and released their first album “The Hassels” followed by their second album “Hour of the Wolf”. Unfortunately for the group these albums were unsuccessful. Joel left the band along with the drummer Joe Small and formed a heavy metal duo Atilla. They too had only one album.

Finally in 1971 Joel started a solo career and released his first solo album, “Cold Spring Harbor”. Unfortunately the first time the album was released it was at a wrong speed and years later re-issued by Columbia Records at the correct speed. The album included such songs as “She’s Got a Way” and “Nocturne”.

Soon Joel was off to the West Coast and Los Angeles, California where he became a piano player at The Executive Room piano bar on Wilshire Boulevard under the name “Bill Martin”. This was also the time he composed his signature hit “Piano Man. In 1972 WMMR-FM a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania radio station started playing Joel’s live concert recording “Captain Jack” and it became a chart buster on the East Coast.

First Gold Album and Hit Singles

Joel recorded his album “Piano Man” in 1973 in Los Angeles for Columbia Records The signature song became his first top 20 single and first gold album. Other songs on this album which made it on the charts included “Travelin’ Prayer” and “Worse Comes to Worst”. The singer returned to New York in 1976 and put together a new band incorporating his own chosen musicians and went on his first concert tour.

His second album was released in 1978 – “52nd Street”. It is considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time. It included the songs “Honesty”. “My Life” and “Until the Night”. The album topped the Billboard charts and earned him two Grammy Awards.

Joel traveled to Cuba in 1979 to participate in a three-day event, Havana Jam Festival at the Karl Marx Theater. His next album and one of my favorites was released in 1980, Glass Houses. It rose to the top of the Billboard Album chart and remained there for six weeks. For his work on this album Joel won a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Songs on this album included “You May Be Right”, “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” and “C’etait Toi (You Were the One)”.

Joel released the live album Songs in the Attic in 1981 which included songs from his first album and introduced his new fans to his early work. The singles on this album were “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” and She’s Got a Way”.

He recorded The Innocent Man in 1983. This was a tribute to popular American music styles from the late 1950s and early 1960s, especially doo-wop and soul music. Three Billboard Top 10 hit singles were featured on this album – “Tell Her About It” at number one, “Uptown Girl” at number 3 and “An Innocent Man” at number 10.

In 1986 Joel released The Bridge in which he collaborated with Ray Charles, Cyndi Lauper and Steve Winwood. It included such successful singles as “Matter of Trust” and “A Modern Woman”.

He became the first American rock star to perform in the Soviet Union after the fall of the Berlin Wall. His tour included stops in Moscow, Leningrad and Tbilisi. The live album named Concert (written in Russian letters) came out that same year - 1987.

His next album came out in 1989 Storm Front with the top single “We Didn’t Start the Fire”.

Joel released River of Dreams in 1993. This was his last pop album. That same year he joined the star cast for a performance to benefit AIDS Project in Los Angeles. The album cover is a painting done by Joel’s ex-wife Christie Brinkley and in 1993 Rolling Stone gave her the Top Picks Award for The Best Album Cover of the Year.

The album included songs like “No Man’s Land”, “Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angel)” and “River of Dreams”.

Joel’s Greatest Hits Volume III came out in 1996 and included two popular singles, “To Make You Feel My Love” and “Hey Girl”. He went on a musical tour across the U.S. in 2006 playing 12 sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City. That same year Columbia Records released the album 12 Gardens Live, a compilation of his songs from the Madison Square Garden concert. In July Joel performed a free concert in Rome, Italy as part of his European tour.

Joel performed the national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XLI on February 4, 2007 and that same year Columbia Records released “All My Life” his first new pop single since 1993. Two albums Cold Spring Harbor and Piano Man were re-issued in 2011. These included previously unavailable studio tracks and live performances.

Awards Received

Billy Joel has won many awards such as a Grammy for Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Just the Way You Are” in 1978, Cable Excellence or ACE Award for his album Live from Long Island in 1984 and many others.

Billy Joel continues to give concerts and has become a business man. Due to his love of boating, along with Long Island boating businessman Peter Needham he established the Long Island Boat Company. Joel also opened a shop in Oyster Bay, Long Island manufacturing custom-made, retro-style motorcycles and accessories.