Billy Joel

Long Island beginnings

William Martin Joel is born in the Bronx on May 9, 1949, and grows up in the Levittown section of Hicksville on Long Island. He begins studying piano in 1953 and, despite teasing at school, keeps with the instrument through adolescence. He boxes as a teenager, then drifts into the cover bands that keep Long Island busy on weekends, and he ultimately skips summer school in favor of a full-time music career, reasoning that Columbia Records does not require a high school diploma.

By 1963 he is playing with The Echoes, and in 1967 he joins The Hassles, a local group that records two albums for United Artists. When that band dissolves, Joel forms Attila in 1970 with Hassles drummer Jon Small; the heavy duo cuts a single album for Epic. Still barely into his twenties, he signs a solo contract, releases Cold Spring Harbor in 1971, and then loses control of the project to a contractual dispute that sends him to Los Angeles, where he earns money at piano bars under the name Bill Martin.

Cold Spring Harbor and the road to Columbia

A live tape of the ballad "Captain Jack," lifted from a concert broadcast and championed by Philadelphia station WMMR, turns Joel into a word-of-mouth favorite and prompts Columbia Records to find him. He signs with the label and releases Piano Man in 1973. The title song, written out of a six-month engagement at a Los Angeles piano bar, becomes a top-20 single, and the album eventually reaches No. 27 on the Billboard 200. Streetlife Serenade (1974) and Turnstiles (1976) follow, improving his standing with critics and radio without yet making him a star.

The Stranger and the superstardom years

With producer Phil Ramone, Joel records The Stranger in 1977. The album parks at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and yields a run of American Top 40 singles, including "Just the Way You Are," "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," and "She's Always a Woman." Kennedy Center materials describe it as Columbia Records' best-selling release from 1977 until 1985. At the 21st Annual Grammy Awards, "Just the Way You Are" takes Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

The albums keep arriving in rapid succession. 52nd Street (1978) gives Joel his first Billboard 200 No. 1 and, at the following ceremony, Album of the Year plus Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male. Glass Houses (1980) pivots to taut, guitar-forward rock, spends six weeks at No. 1 on the album chart, and supplies his first Hot 100 chart-topper with "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me," along with a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male. The Nylon Curtain (1982) turns topical with "Allentown" and "Pressure" and is recorded not long after a motorcycle accident seriously injures both of his hands. An Innocent Man (1983) revives the soul and doo-wop sounds of his youth and places six singles in the Top 40, among them "Uptown Girl" and "Tell Her About It."

Stadiums, the Soviet tour, and benefit stages

Joel keeps expanding the frame. He travels to Cuba in 1979 for Havana Jam, and in July 1987 he becomes the first American entertainer to launch a full-scale rock production in the Soviet Union, playing a run of concerts in Moscow and Leningrad. Greatest Hits Volume I and Volume II (1985) becomes his seventh consecutive top-ten album, while Storm Front (1989) delivers "We Didn't Start the Fire," a No. 1 single that collects three Grammy nominations.

River of Dreams debuts at No. 1 in 1993, after which Joel turns much of his energy to the road. He and Elton John begin a series of Face-to-Face tours in 1994 and revisit the pairing through 2010. Benefit appearances include Farm Aid and USA for Africa's "We Are the World" campaign, and in 1978 he had founded the Charity Begins At Home foundation to support causes across the New York tri-state area.

After the pop albums: classical, Broadway, and honors

River of Dreams closes the main pop-album chapter of Joel's career; its title single reaches No. 1 on the Hot 100 and the project earns four Grammy nominations. He continues to tour steadily while leaving the studio mostly alone. Fantasies & Delusions (2001) collects solo piano pieces written by Joel and performed by classical pianist Richard Hyung-ki Joo, and 2007 brings the one-off singles "All My Life" and "Christmas in Fallujah."

Stage and civic honors fill the gap. Twyla Tharp's Movin' Out, a Broadway show built from his catalog, opens in 2002 and wins two Tony Awards in 2003, including Best Orchestrations for Joel. He is named MusiCares Person of the Year in 2002 and receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004. He enters the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, receives the Kennedy Center Honor in 2013, and in November 2014 collects the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song and ASCAP's Centennial Award.

The Garden decade and a health pause

In December 2013, Madison Square Garden names Joel its first music franchise, and in January 2014 he begins playing the arena once a month. The residency runs for a decade; the finale on July 25, 2024, is billed as his 150th lifetime show at the Garden and the 104th of the monthly run, with a banner raised in his honor. Earlier that year, on February 1, Columbia releases "Turn the Lights Back On," his first new single in 17 years, which he performs at the Grammy Awards days later.

Live work then pauses for medical reasons. After a March 2025 postponement tied to surgery, Joel discloses on May 23, 2025, that he has been diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus, which his team says has been exacerbated by concert performances and has affected his hearing, vision, and balance. On his doctors' advice he cancels scheduled concerts through July 2026 to focus on physical therapy, telling fans he hopes to return to the stage once he recovers.