One of rock’s most famous superstars, Billy Joel discovered in his career that he did better as a solo performer than as part of a group. It’s worked out quite nicely for him and made him the sixth best-selling artist in the U.S.  It all started in sleepy Hicksville, N.Y. where Joel grew up.

Joel loved music and took piano lessons early on but he detoured into boxing when he was a teenager. He quickly learned that fist-a-flying would never be as glamorous as rock ‘n roll fame so like many other youngsters who were swept up in Beatlemania, he formed his own band at the tender age of 14. The band was called the Echoes and they mostly covered UK hits of the time. Joel also played as a session pianist for the studio recordings of bands like the Shangri-Las. He left high school before graduating and concentrated on his band. The Echoes went through a few name changes but eventually signed a contract with United Artists as the Hassles and released a couple of albums. Success eluded the Hassles (read: they bombed) and Joel faced personal problems on top of it when his sweetheart moved on to greener pastures. After a period of depression, Joel bounced back with Attila, a heavy metal group he co-founded with the Hassles’ drummer, Jon Small. This band didn’t last long either and Joel continued solo with his album Cold Spring Harbor. The release was plagued with problems, notably the album was recorded at the wrong speed making Joel sound like, well, maybe not a chipmunk but a lot more high-pitched than he was.  In addition to that debacle, his new contract with Family Productions was exploitative and yoked him for life to the company. Cold Spring Harbor failed and Joel hightailed it to Los Angeles to forget his troubles (accompanied by his girlfriend, the former Mrs. Jon Small).

Joel spent three years in L.A.  working as a lounge pianist. In 1973, he released Piano Man, which other than the title track included the songs “Captain Jack” and “The Ballad of Billy the Kid.” One of them, “Captain Jack,” became a radio favorite on the East Coast, thanks to a tape of a live performance getting plenty of airtime. Joel came to the attention of Clive Davis from Columbia Records, who tracked him down and bought out Joel’s contract from Family Productions. Still, Joel’s old label received 25 cents from every record sold, an amount that ballooned into huge profits when Joel started selling well. The release of Piano Man opened many doors for him and he toured with bands like the Doobie Brothers and the Beach Boys. In 1975, he’d had enough of the West Coast and moved back to New York, quickly writing “New York State of Mind” to celebrate his homecoming. Joel also released another album, Turnstiles, whose bumpy production caused him to fire his manager. Undaunted, he followed with The Stranger, produced by Phil Ramone, which include the songs “Just the Way You Are,” “She’s Always a Woman” and “Only the Good Die Young.” The album went multi-platinum with several Top 40 hits and got Joel a couple of Grammy awards.

Joel stayed on a roll with 52nd Street that gave him more hits like “My Life” and “Big Shot”. He closed the decade with 1980’s Glass Houses that spent 6 weeks at #1, featuring “It’s Still Rock & Roll to Me” and “You May Be Right,” two immensely popular songs.  In 1981 came the live album Songs in the Attic, with Joel performing many of his early songs.  Production of the next album, The Nylon Curtain was interrupted for some time when Joel was involved in motorcycle accident that damaged his hand. When it was released, the album was a success and spawned a tour. At this time, Joel and his wife divorced, but never fear, he met and charmed supermodel Christie Brinkley, whom he married a couple of years later. In 1983, he released An Innocent Man, an homage to 50s and 60s sounds, which included “Uptown Girl.” The song’s video (and many later videos) featured his girlfriend at the time, Christie Brinkley.

Joel became one of the first American rock musicians to play behind the Iron Curtain with his trip to the (then) U.S.S.R. He put up a lot of his own money to make the tour possible but conditions must have been less than perfect because he angrily flipped over a keyboard while performing on stage. Back in the U.S. Joel released Storm Front in 1989, a huge success that included the mini history lesson “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” The subsequent tour brought Joel to recently reunified Berlin and to Yankee Stadium (the first rock show to be performed there).

Things quieted down in the 90s for Joel after another #1 album, River of Dreams, released in 1993.  He stayed active on the litigious front however, bringing suit against his former lawyer and divorcing Christie Brinkley. He came out of his semi-retirement for Fantasies and Delusions, a classical piano album. He continued to tour, most notably with Elton John. In 2006 Joel embarked on a U.S. tour and as a testament to his superstardom, he sold out Madison Square Garden in New York City a dozen times without having released any new songs for close to 13 years. He is still the Piano Man and audiences love him.