Biography of Billy Joel

Although Billy Joel never was a critic's favorite, the pianist emerged as one of the most popular singer/songwriters of the latter half of the '70s. Joel's music consistently demonstrates an affection for Beatlesque hooks and a flair for Tin Pan Alley and Broadway melodies. His fusion of two distinct eras made him a superstar in the late '70s and '80s, as he racked an impressive string of multi-platinum albums and hit singles. Joel was raised in the Bronx suburb Levittown, where he learned to play piano as a child. As he approached his adolescence, Joel started to rebel, joining teenage gangs and boxing. Upon seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, Joel decided to pursue a musical career and set about finding a local band to join. Eventually, he found the Echoes, a group that specialized in British Invasion covers. Shortly after he joined the group, the Echoes became a popular New York attraction. While he was still a member of the group, Joel began playing recording sessions in 1965, playing piano on recordings George "Shadow" Morton produced as well as several records released through Kama Sutra Productions. Soon, his musical commitments occupied all of his time and Joel dropped out of high school, just a few months shy of his graduation. In 1967, he joined the Hassles, a Long Island rock & roll band that had a recording contract with United Artists. Over the next year and a half, the Hassels released two albums and four singles, all of which failed commercially. In 1969, the Hassels broke up. Joel and the band's drummer, Jon Small, formed an organ and drums duo called Attila. In Attila, Joel played his organ through a variety of effects pedals, creating a heavy psychedelic hard rock album completely without guitars. Epic released Attila early in 1970; sporting a cover featuring the duo dressed as barbarians, the album was a bomb and the band broke up. While the group was still together, Joel began a romance with Small's wife, Elizabeth; she would eventually leave the drummer and marry the pianist in 1973. After Attila's embarrassing failure, Joel wrote rock criticism and played on commercial jingles.Billy Joel signed a deal with Family Productions in 1971. Under the terms of the contract, Joel signed to the label's parent company, Ripp, for life; the pianist was unaware of the clause at the time. Joel refashioned himself as a sensitive singer/songwriter for his debut album, Cold Spring Harbor, which was released in November of 1971. Upon Joel's completion of a small U.S. tour, Family Productions were experiencing legal and financial difficulties, which prevented Joel from recording an immediate follow-up. Early in 1972, he moved out to Los Angeles with his girlfriend Elizabeth. Joel adopted the name Bill Martin and spent half a year played lounge piano at the Executive Room. Toward the end of the year, he began touring, playing various nightclubs across the country. Around the beginning of 1973, a Philadelphia radio station began playing a live version of "Captain Jack." Soon, record companies were eager to sign the pianist, and he eventually signed with Columbia Records. In order for Joel to sign with Columbia, the major label had to agree to pay Ripp Productions 25 cents for each album sold, plus display the Family and Remus logos on each record Joel released. By the end of 1973, Billy Joel's first album for Columbia Records, Piano Man, had been released. The record slowly worked its way up the charts, peaking at number 27 in the spring of 1974. The title track -- culled from experiences he had while singing at the Executive Room -- became a Top 40 hit single. At the end of the summer, Joel assembled a touring band and undertook a national tour. By the end of 1974, he had released his second album, Streetlife Serenade, which reached number 35 early in 1975. After its success, Joel signed a contract with James William Guercio and Larry Fitzgerald's management company, Caribou, and moved from California to New York, where he recorded his 1976 album Turnstiles. The sessions for Turnstiles were long and filled with tension, culminating with Joel firing the album's original producer, Guercio, and producing the album himself. Once he fired Guercio, Joel also left Caribou, hired his wife as his new manager and recorded his new album with his touring band.Turnstiles stalled on the charts, only reaching number 122. Billy Joel's was the make-or-break point for his career and the resulting album, The Stranger, catapulted him into super-stardom. Produced by Phil Ramone, The Stranger was released in the fall of 1977 -- by the end of the year, it peaked at number two and had gone platinum and, within the course of a year, it spawned the Top 40 singles "Just the Way You Are," "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," "She's Always a Woman," and "Only the Good Die Young." Joel followed The Stranger with 52nd Street, which was released in the fall of 1978. 52nd Street spent eight weeks at number one in the U.S., selling over two millions copies within the first month of its release. The album spawned the hit singles "My Life," "Big Shot," and "Honesty," and won the Grammy award for Album of the Year in 1980. In the spring of 1980, Joel released Glass Houses, theoretically a harder-edged album that was a response to the punk and new wave movement. By the summer of 1980, Glass Houses had reached number one in America, where it stayed for six weeks; the album spawned the Top 40 singles "You May Be Right," "It's Still Rock'N'Roll to Me," "Don't Ask Me Why," and "Sometimes a Fantasy" and won the Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male in 1981. In the fall of 1981, Joel released Songs in the Attic, a live album that concentrated on material written and recorded before he became a star in 1977. Songs in the Attic bought Joel some time as he was completing an album he had designed as his bid to be taken seriously as a composer. The recording was long and plagued with problems, most notably Joel's divorce. The record, called The Nylon Curtain, was finally released in the fall. The album was a commercial disappointment, only selling a million copies, but it did earn him some of his better reviews, as well as spawning the Top 20 hits "Pressure" and "Allentown." Joel quickly followed the album in 1983 with the oldies pastiche An Innocent Man, which restored Joel to his multi-platinum status. The album also launched the hit singles "Uptown Girl," "Tell Her About It," "An Innocent Man," and "Keeping the Faith." During 1983 and 1984, Joel became one of the first '70s stars to embrace MTV and music videos, shooting a number of clips for the album which were aired frequently on the network.Billy Joel released a double album compilation, Greatest Hits, Vols. 1 & 2 in the summer of 1985. Two new songs -- including the Top Ten "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" -- were added to the hits collection; the album itself peaked at number six. In the summer of 1986, Joel returned with the Top Ten single "Modern Woman," which was a teaser for his new album, The Bridge, which was released in August. The Bridge peaked, sold over two million copies, and launched the Top 40 hits "A Matter of Trust" and "This Is the Time." In the spring of 1987, Billy Joel embarked on a major tour of the USSR. His Leningrad concert was recorded and released in the fall of 1987 as the double-live album Kohyept. Billy Joel fired his long-time manager and former brother-in-law Frank Weber in August of 1989, after an audit revealed that there were major discrepancies in Weber's accounting. Following Weber's dismissal, Joel sued Weber for 90 million dollars, claiming fraud. Immediately after filing suit, Joel was hospitalized with kidney stones. All of this turmoil didn't prevent the release of his twelfth studio album, Storm Front, in the fall of 1989. It was preceded by the single "We Didn't Start the Fire," which became a number one hit. Storm Front marked a significant change for Billy Joel -- he fired his band, keeping only Liberty DeVito, and ceased his relationship with producer Phil Ramone, hiring Mick Jones of Foreigner to produce the album. Storm Front was another hit for Joel, reaching number one in the U.S. and selling over three million albums. During 1990, Joel embarked on a major US tour that ran well into 1991. In January, the court awarded Joel two million dollars in a partial judgement against Frank Weber. At the end of the year, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences honored Billy Joel with a Grammy Living Legend award. Following the Storm Front world tour, Billy Joel spent the next few years quietly. Joel returned in the summer of 1993 with River of Dreams, which entered the charts at number one and spawned the Top Ten title track. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine