50 Fun Facts About Billy Joel

In which New York City borough was Billy Joel born in 1949?

The family moved to Hicksville on Long Island when he was one, and his mother insisted on piano lessons. His father Howard was a German-born amateur classical pianist.

Which sport did the teenage Billy Joel compete in on the amateur Golden Gloves circuit?

He fought as a welterweight and has said a broken nose ended his interest. He was also baptized in a Church of Christ at age 11.

How did Billy Joel finally receive his Hicksville High diploma in 1992, 25 years after leaving?

He had told the school that if he wasn't going to Columbia University he was going to Columbia Records, where no diploma was needed. He got it at the annual graduation ceremony.

With drummer Jon Small, Billy Joel formed which heavy-rock duo in 1969?

Their one album came out in July 1970. Small later directed Joel's music videos, and Joel eventually married Small's ex-wife Elizabeth.

What went wrong with Billy Joel's 1971 debut album Cold Spring Harbor?

Family Productions' Artie Ripp said he spent $450,000 developing Joel. 'She's Got a Way' and 'Everybody Loves You Now' were largely ignored until live versions surfaced in 1981.

A live radio performance of which Philadelphia favourite got Billy Joel a major-label deal in 1972?

It became the most requested track in the station's history. Columbia president Clive Davis signed him and he moved to Los Angeles for three years.

Under what stage name did Billy Joel play a Los Angeles piano bar for six months in 1972-73?

His full name is William Martin Joel. The Executive Room on Wilshire Boulevard and its regulars became the subject of his signature song.

What position did 'Piano Man' peak at on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974?

It was his first Top 40 hit. The Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry in 2015.

Which song did Billy Joel write as a sarcastic response to 'Piano Man' being cut down for radio?

It appeared on 1974's Streetlife Serenade, along with the instrumental 'Root Beer Rag'. The lyric complains that the hit was cut to 3:05.

Which famous producer declined Billy Joel's follow-up to his 1976 album after seeing him play in New Jersey?

Joel's wife Elizabeth had phoned him. She then contacted Phil Ramone, who came to Joel's Carnegie Hall show in June 1977 and made The Stranger.

Which producer made The Stranger with Billy Joel in 1977, beginning a partnership that lasted until 1986?

Storm Front in 1989 was the first album since Turnstiles without him, with Mick Jones of Foreigner producing instead.

The Stranger overtook which album to become its label's best-seller?

It sold over 10 million copies and reached No. 2. Rolling Stone later ranked it the 70th greatest album of all time.

'Just the Way You Are', which won Grammys for Record and Song of the Year, was written for whom?

He said the song came to him in a dream. It reached No. 3 and he later stopped playing it after the divorce.

52nd Street (1978) was named after the Manhattan street that then housed the world headquarters of what?

It was his first No. 1 album, sold over seven million and won Album of the Year at the Grammys, his only win in that category.

52nd Street holds what place in the history of recorded music?

Sony put it out on the new format in Japan in 1982. The album's 'My Life' was also covered as the theme to the sitcom Bosom Buddies.

Which single gave Billy Joel his first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1980?

It spent eleven weeks in the Top 10 and was the ninth biggest-selling single of the year. Glass Houses spent six weeks at No. 1.

What is Billy Joel about to do on the cover of Glass Houses (1980)?

He said it was a riposte to critics who called him a mellow balladeer. The album won him a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male.

What delayed the recording of The Nylon Curtain in 1982?

A car ran a red light on Long Island; he was flipped over it, crushing his left thumb and dislocating his other wrist. The album still reached No. 7.

Which director made the MTV-staple videos for 'Allentown' and 'Pressure'?

He was the Bohemian Rhapsody-era pioneer who later directed Highlander. The videos helped The Nylon Curtain sell despite its heavier themes.

An Innocent Man (1983) was Billy Joel's tribute to which musical era?

It produced 'Tell Her About It', 'Uptown Girl' and 'The Longest Time', and lost the Album of the Year Grammy to Thriller.

'Uptown Girl' was inspired by a chance hotel-bar encounter with two supermodels and which singer?

Christie Brinkley, Elle Macpherson and the singer were on a modelling assignment in the Caribbean and approached him while he played the piano. The song was originally titled 'Uptown Girls'.

Which album beat An Innocent Man to the Album of the Year Grammy?

Joel's Greatest Hits compilation the following year went on to double-diamond status, over 23 million units.

'A Matter of Trust' and 'Modern Woman' from The Bridge featured in which 1986 comedy?

Both reached No. 10. The Bridge was his last album to carry the Family Productions logo before he cut ties with Artie Ripp.

In which country did Billy Joel play six arena concerts in 1987, one of the first Western rock tours there?

After an improvised show in Tbilisi he played Moscow and Leningrad to perhaps 100,000 people, and the tour was the country's first live rock radio broadcast. A clown he met inspired the song 'Leningrad'.

Billy Joel voiced Dodger, a streetwise Jack Russell terrier, in which 1988 Disney film?

The character is based on Dickens's Artful Dodger. It remains a rare acting credit for him.

For how much did Billy Joel sue his former manager and ex-brother-in-law Frank Weber in 1989?

An audit had found major discrepancies. He won a $2 million partial judgment in 1990, and 'The Great Wall of China' on River of Dreams is about Weber.

Which Foreigner guitarist co-produced Billy Joel's Storm Front (1989)?

Joel had played keyboards on Jones's 1988 solo album. Storm Front became his first No. 1 album since Glass Houses nine years earlier.

How many Billy Joel singles have reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100?

'It's Still Rock and Roll to Me', 'Tell Her About It' and 'We Didn't Start the Fire', the last of which spent two weeks on top in 1989. He has had 33 Top 40 hits.

'The Downeaster Alexa' on Storm Front was written about the struggles of whom?

Alexa is also the name of his daughter, born in 1985. 'And So It Goes' closes the album as the calm after the storm.

Who painted the cover art for River of Dreams (1993)?

It shows a scene from each song. The couple announced their separation the following April and divorced in August 1994.

With which artist did Billy Joel play the long-running 'Face to Face' tours from 1994?

They became the longest-running and most successful concert tandem in pop history, grossing $46 million in just 24 dates in 2003. The last leg ended in Albany in 2010.

Which country star took Billy Joel's 'Shameless' to No. 1 on the country chart in 1991?

The song originally appeared on Storm Front. Joel has said the cover kept the song alive far beyond his own version.

Who inducted Billy Joel into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999?

Charles had duetted with Joel on 'Baby Grand' from The Bridge. Joel had entered the Songwriters Hall of Fame seven years earlier.

Billy Joel's 2001 album Fantasies & Delusions consists of what?

He composed the pieces but had the British-Korean pianist play them. Bits of them turn up as interludes at his concerts and in the show Movin' Out.

Which New York ballpark did Billy Joel close with two concerts in July 2008, before it was demolished?

The shows became the documentary Last Play at Shea and the album Live at Shea Stadium. Paul McCartney joined him on the final night.

How often did Billy Joel play Madison Square Garden during his residency that began in January 2014?

It was open-ended from the start. He had been named the arena's first-ever music 'franchise' in December 2013, alongside the Knicks, Rangers and Liberty.

Billy Joel's Madison Square Garden residency ended in July 2024 with what milestone?

It was the 104th performance in the residency series. He holds the record for most concerts at the venue by a distance.

What was the title of the 2024 single that marked Billy Joel's return to writing pop songs?

Announced in January and released on February 1, it was only his second new pop song in more than two decades.

In May 2025 Billy Joel cancelled all his concerts after being diagnosed with what condition?

By July he told People he was feeling better. A two-part HBO documentary, And So It Goes, premiered at Tribeca the following month.

Which honour did the Library of Congress give Billy Joel in 2014, as its sixth recipient?

He had received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2013 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame's Johnny Mercer Award in 2001.

Billy Joel's third wife, whom he married in 2004, is known for what profession?

Katie Lee was 23; his daughter Alexa Ray, then 18, was maid of honour. His fourth wife, Alexis Roderick, is an equestrian and former Morgan Stanley executive.

Which 1976 album was the first Billy Joel produced himself, with his regular touring band?

He scrapped early Colorado sessions with Elton John's rhythm section, moved back to New York and re-recorded it. It contains 'New York State of Mind', never released as a single.

Billy Joel's German-born father Howard settled in which European city after the couple divorced in 1957?

Howard had been born in Nuremberg and educated in Switzerland. Joel's half-brother Alexander became a classical conductor and led the Staatstheater Braunschweig.

Roughly how many records has Billy Joel sold worldwide?

That makes him the fourth-best-selling solo artist in the United States. He has won five Grammys from 23 nominations.

Which Joel album won the Album of the Year Grammy, his only win in that category?

It was also his first album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and sold more than seven million copies.

Joel's daughter Alexa Ray was given her middle name in honour of which musician?

She was born in December 1985 to Joel and Christie Brinkley, who divorced in 1994 but remain friends.

As a teenager Joel played piano on a demo of which 1964 hit produced by Shadow Morton?

He was 16 and playing with the Echoes, a Long Island group that specialised in British Invasion covers.

Which Long Island group did Joel join in 1967 after leaving the Echoes?

Signed to United Artists, they released four singles and two albums in about eighteen months, none of them successful.

The song 'Leningrad' on Storm Front was written after Joel met whom in that city in 1987?

The trip also produced an improvised performance in Tbilisi and six arena shows in Moscow and Leningrad.

Which R&B duo did Joel induct into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992?

The same year he began work on River of Dreams, which he finished in early 1993.