Billy Joel Facts: Billy Joel is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and composer who is considered one of the most influential and successful musicians of all time. He was born on May 9, 1949, in The Bronx, New York City, and grew up on Long Island, New York. Joel’s career spans several decades, and he is known for his versatile musical style, which incorporates elements of rock, pop, jazz, and classical music.
Joel’s debut album, “Cold Spring Harbor,” was released in 1971, but it was his breakthrough album, “Piano Man” (1973), that catapulted him to fame. The title track “Piano Man” remains one of his most iconic and enduring songs.
Billy Joel Facts
1- Billy Joel Born on May 9, 1949, in New York
2- His in full name is William Martin Joel
3- Joel reluctantly began piano lessons at an early age, at his mother’s insistence
4- Joel’s father was a pianist and met his mother when she was singing at the City College of New York in a Gilbert and Sullivan company.
5- He played piano on The Shangri-Las’ hit single, “Leader of the Pack” (1965). He was 16 years old at the time.
6- Billy Joel was honored by Steinway & Sons with a painted portrait that hangs in Steinway Hall in Manhattan.
7- In 1992, Joel was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1999
8- Billy Attempted to commit suicide in 1970 by drinking furniture polish
9- In 2001, he sold his house in The Hamptons to Jerry Seinfeld for $32 million.
10- He did play a benefit with Bruce Springsteen to raise money for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008
11- December 2013, Madison Square Garden announced Billy Joel as the first-ever music franchise of “The World’s Most Famous Arena.”
12- As a teenager, Joel took up boxing so he could defend himself.
13- Billy Joel received the Johnny Mercer Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame
14- In 2013, Joel received the Kennedy Center Honors, the nation’s highest honor for influencing American culture through the arts
15- Billy Joel is a huge Beatles fan
16- During a Town Hall interview with Howard Stern, Billy told a story in which he believed he saw the spirit of a 19th-century woman sitting and brushing her hair in his East Hampton home.
17- In 1990, he was presented with a Grammy Legend Award.
18- He appeared in the music video and sang in the choir on the song “We Are the World”.
19- Before turning into one of the preeminent rock singer-songwriters of his generation, Joel was in a heavy metal band called Atilla
20- In 2004, Billy Joel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles
21- He Wrote the children’s book Goodnight, My Angel: A Lullabye in 2004.
22- He is a supporter of the Democratic Party.
23- In 1978, Joel’s album 52nd Street was his first album to peak at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
24- His song “Just the Way You Are” (1977) is one of the most covered and radio-played songs of all-time
25- He left Hicksville High without having completed his work, but in 1992 he turned in some missing essays and got his diploma.
26- Joel Once Played a Duet with His Father in Germany
27- Joel was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1992)
28- Across the 20 years of his solo career, Joel produced 33 Top 40 hits in the US, all of which he wrote himself
29- Billy Joel has had 33 Top 40 hits and 23 Grammy nominations since signing his first solo recording contract in 1972.
30- Billy Joel Released a collection of classical piano compositions, Fantasies & Delusions, in 2001.
31- Joel spent a day and a half at the 1969 music festival in upstate New York because he wanted to see Jimi Hendrix, but the bathrooms were so disgusting that he left.
