Singer
Billy Joel

William Martin "Billy" Joel (born May 9, 1949, New York, USA) is an American pianist, singer-songwriter, and composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth-best-selling recording artist and the third-best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to the RIAA. His compilation album Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2 is the third-best-selling album in the United States by discs shipped. Joel had Top 40 ... hits in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, achieving 33 Top 40 hits in the United States, all of which he wrote himself. He is also a six-time Grammy Award winner, a 23-time Grammy nominee and one of the world's best-selling artists of all time, having sold over 150 million records worldwide. He was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame (1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999), and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2006). In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles chart's 50th anniversary, with Billy Joel positioned at No. 23. With the exception of the 2007 songs "All My Life" and "Christmas in Fallujah", Joel stopped writing and recording popular music after 1993's River of Dreams, but he continued to tour extensively until 2010. Joel was born in the Bronx, May 9, 1949 and raised in Hicksville, New York in a Levitt home. His father, Howard (born Helmuth), was born in Germany, the son of German merchant and manufacturer Karl Amson Joel, who, after the advent of the Nazi regime, emigrated to Switzerland and later to the United States. Billy Joel's mother, Rosalind Nyman, was born in England to Philip and Rebecca Nyman. Both of Joel's parents were Jewish. They divorced in 1960, and his father moved to Vienna, Austria. Billy has a sister, Judith Joel, and a half-brother, Alexander Joel, who is an acclaimed classical conductor in Europe and currently chief musical director of the Staatstheater Braunschweig. Joel's father was an accomplished classical pianist. Billy reluctantly began piano lessons at an early age, at his mother's insistence; his teachers included the noted American pianist Morton Estrin and musician/songwriter Timothy Ford. His interest in music, rather than sports, was a source of teasing and bullying in his early years. (He has said in interviews that his piano instructor also taught ballet. Her name was Frances Neiman, and she was a Juilliard trained musician. She gave both classical piano and ballet lessons in the studio attached to the rear of her house, leading neighborhood bullies to mistakenly assume that he was learning to dance.) As a teenager, Joel took up boxing so that he would be able to defend himself. He boxed successfully on the amateur Golden Gloves circuit for a short time, winning twenty-two bouts, but abandoned the sport shortly after breaking his nose in his twenty-fourth boxing match. Joel attended Hicksville High School in 1967, but he did not graduate with his class. He had been helping his single mother make ends meet by playing at a piano bar, which interfered with his school attendance. At the end of his senior year, Joel did not have enough credits to graduate. Rather than attend summer school to earn his diploma, however, Joel decided to immediately begin a career in music. Joel recounted, "I told them, 'To hell with it. If I'm not going to Columbia University, I'm going to Columbia Records, and you don't need a high school diploma over there'." Columbia did, in fact, become the label that eventually signed him. In 1992, he submitted essays to the school board and was awarded his diploma at Hicksville High's annual graduation ceremony, 25 years after he had left. See more [+]

Piano Man |||||

It's nine o'clock on a Saturday The regular crowd shuffles i...

Shes Always A Woman |||||

She can kill with a smile She can wound with her eyes She ca...

Just The Way You Are |||||

Don't go changin' to try please me you never let me down bef...

Uptown Girl |||||

Uptown girl She's been living in her uptown world I bet sh...

New York State of Mind |||||

Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighbo...

Honesty |||||

If you search for tenderness it isn't hard to find You can ...

The longest time |||||

Oh, oh, oh For the longest time Oh, oh, oh For the longest t...

Only The Good Die Young |||||

Come out Virginia, don't let me wait You Catholic girls sta...

Its Still Rock And Roll To Me |||||

What's the matter with the clothes I'm wearing? "Can't ya te...

My Life |||||

Got a call from an old friend We used to be real close Said ...

We Didnt Start The Fire |||||

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray South Pacifi...

And So It Goes |||||

In every heart there is a room A sanctuary safe and strong T...

Scenes From An Italian Restaurant |||||

Things are okay with me these days Got a good job, got a goo...

Shes Got A Way |||||

She's got a way about her I don't know what it is But I know...

You May Be Right |||||

We get the intro and the A working together it can be a litt...

Movin Out |||||

Anthony works in the grocery store saving his pennies for so...

Vienna |||||

Slow down you crazy child You're so ambitious for a juvenile...

She Is Always a Woman To Me |||||

1) She can kill with a smile, she can wound with her eyes. S...

The River of Dreams |||||

In the middle of the night I go walking in my sleep from the...

Baby Grand |||||

Late at night When it?s dark and cold I reach out For som...

Piano Man |||||

it's nine o'clock on a Saturday the regular crowd shuffles i...

Scenes from a n italian restaurant |||||

A bottle of white, a bottle of red Perhaps a bottle of rose ...

52nd Street |||||

They say it takes a lot to keep a love alive In every heart...

The Ballad Of Billy The Kid |||||

From a town known as Wheeling, West Virginia Rode a boy with...

Vienna waits for you |||||

Slow down you crazy child You're so ambitious for a juvenile...

Good Night Saigon |||||

We met as soul mates on Parris Island, we left as inmates fr...

Movin out /anthony song |||||

Anthony works in the grocery store Savin' his pennies for so...

Don't Ask Me Why |||||

All the waiters in your grand café Leave their tables when y...

Just the way you are |||||

Don't go chang-ing, __to try and please me You never let me...

Travellin Prayer |||||

Hey Lord, take a look all around Tonight to find where my ba...

The stranger |||||

Well we all have a face That we hide away forever And we tak...

Keeping The Faith |||||

If it seems If you think Oh, then you should Cause my pas...

Its still rockn roll to me |||||

What's the matter with the clothes I'm wearing? "Can't You t...

Why Judy Why |||||

V1: Of all the people in the world That I know, your the be...

Allentown |||||

Well we're living here in Allentown And they're closing all ...

James |||||

James we were always friends, From our childhood days And we...

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