Must Haves. Music Edition. Billy Joel.

BACKGROUND HISTORY

Born on May 9, 1949 withinside the Bronx, Joel turned into raised withinside the Long Island suburb of Hicksville, wherein he found out to play piano as a child. As he approached his adolescence, Joel commenced to rebel, becoming a member of teenage avenue gangs and boxing as welterweight. He fought a complete of twenty-two fights as a teenager, and at some stage in one of the fights, he broke his nose. For the early years of his adolescence, he divided his time among analyzing piano and fighting. Upon seeing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, Joel determined to pursue a full-time musical profession and set approximately locating a nearby Long Island band to join. Eventually, he located the Echoes, a set that specialised in British Invasion covers. The Echoes have become a famous New York attraction, convincing him to cease excessive college to end up a expert musician.

Active1960s - 2020s

BornMay 9, 1949 in Bronx, NY

Genre

Pop/Rock

Styles

Album Rock

Contemporary Pop/Rock

Singer/Songwriter

Soft Rock

Keyboard

Also Known As

The Piano Man

William M. Joel

William Martin Joel

Member Of

The Hassles

Attila

The Lost Souls

ALBUMS

Glass houses, fantasies & delussions, the nylon curtain, the stranger, etc.

HITS

Uptown Girl, Vienna, just the way you are, piano man, only the good die young

CULTURAL IMPACT

A New York icon and one of the maximum a success singer/songwriters of the past due twentieth century, Billy Joel rose to fulfillment withinside the mid-`70s with a melodic piano-led pop sound that merged Beatlesque hooks with factors of rock, jazz, Tin Pan Alley, or even Broadway. A Long Island local with a effective voice and knack for storytelling, Joel first made the pop charts with "Piano Man," a rousing barroom singalong with a bittersweet old-timey experience that have become his signature song. Released in 1977, his 5th album, The Stranger, released him into superstardom yielding 4 Top forty hits including "Only the Good Die Young" and the Grammy Award-prevailing smooth rock ballad "Just the Way You Are." By the give up of the '70s, Joel turned into a primary live performance draw and one of the pinnacle American pop artists with a string of big hits to his credit score including "Movin' Out," "My Life," and "She's Always a Woman." His fulfillment persevered into the '80s with albums like Glass Houses and An Innocent Man, the latter of which helped usher him into the MTV technology with its "Uptown Girl" video starring his wife, stick insect Christie Brinkley. Released in 1985 his double-disc Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 & 2 have become a ubiquitous chart presence, in the end incomes Diamond certification. Joel's fulfillment prolonged nicely past the U.S. and he even reached throughout the Iron Curtain, doing a excessive-profile excursion of the Soviet Union withinside the past due '80s. He ended the last decade on pinnacle with 1989's Storm Front and its ruin hit "We Didn't Start the Fire." Released in 1993, River of Dreams proved to be Joel's ultimate launch of father cloth and, other than a 2001 album of authentic classical cloth, he shifted into legacy mode withinside the twenty first century. Joel remained a considerable live performance draw, visiting regularly for the duration of the 2000s and 2010s, sometimes as a part of a famous package deal with Elton John. Among the numerous honors bestowed upon him turned into an induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Kennedy Center Honors, and the most effective retired wide variety via way of means of a non-athlete at New York's Madison Square Garden area wherein he started out a month-to-month residency gig in 2014. After the residency turned into interrupted via way of means of the COVID-19 pandemic, Joel made a grand go back to his native land area in past due 2021.