Billy Joel Biography

The Billy Joel biography stretches over 40 years in the music industry. Joel has maintained a huge following over all of the 40 years and is the sixth biggest selling artist in the history of music. His albums have sold well over 100 million copies worldwide.

Billy Joel Biography – The Early Years

Billy Joel was born William Joseph Martin Joel on May 9, 1949 in Levittown, New York. Music was a part of his life from birth. His father was a classical piano player and his parents insisted that all of their children learn the instrument. Although Joel frequently took a beating from the neighborhood kids for his focus on music, he discovered that it was both his talent and passion very early on in life.

By age 14, Joel was playing with a New York cover band called The Echoes. The Echoes played the most popular British invasion hits of the day, which suited Joel fine as he had decided, like so many others, that he wanted to be a rock musician after seeing The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. The Echoes went through many line-up changes over the years, but they became a popular draw on the New York circuit. They were so popular, in fact, that they cost Joel his high school diploma. After staying out late at a show, he overslept, missed an important exam and failed the last class he needed to graduate. He decided to skip summer school – and getting his diploma – and stick with the band. (His high school relented 25 years later and made him an honorary high school grad.)

He stayed on with The Echoes (who at this point were called The Lost Souls) until the late 1960s, but then picked up and moved to L.A. to pursue a solo career.

Billy Joel Biography – Solo Career Takes Off

Joel’s first solo album – Cold Harbor, released in 1971, was nothing short of a disaster. The material wasn’t the issue. The problem was that the album was mastered at the wrong speed and the record label didn’t catch the error, sending the album out to retail and reviewers alike at the wrong speed. The album contained the song She’s Got a Way, which now is a Joel fan favorite, but definitely didn’t find much of an audience at the time.

The label that released Cold Harbor – Family Productions – would haunt Joel’s career in many ways. First, they had convinced his to sign a deal that turned over the bulk of the profits to them, but they also tried to trap him in the deal when Columbia Records started sniffing around. Eventually, they let him go to Columbia, but insisted that their logo appear on his next five albums and that they receive 25% of his royalties for those albums. When he started selling big with Columbia, they made out like bandits.

Although there were hits along the way, Joel’s real breakthrough release was with 1977’s The Stranger. This album spawned several hits, like Only the Good Die Young and Just the Way You Are, and it earned him a string of Grammy nominations, including two wins for Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

After The Stranger, Joel released a string of successful albums in the 1980s, including the enormously popular Innocent Man and 52nd Street.

As the 1990s moved on, Joel’s sales began to trickle down, but he became an institution on the touring circuit. During this time, Joel did continue to release albums, but his live shows became the bigger draw. As the years have progressed, Joel has seemed to relish his “elder statesman” position and has even begun to move away from large, stadium tours to more exclusive, smaller shows for his die-hard fans.

In the 2000s, Joel has had a well publicized battle with alcoholism, twice entering rehab, once after driving drunk and crashing his car into ex-wife Christie Brinkley’s home.