Billy Joel is a pianist, composer and interpreter from The Bronx whose net worth is $180 million. William Martin Joel was born in the above-mentioned place from New York City on May 9th, 1949. His family soon moved to Long Island, specifically, to Levittown Hicksville section. Joel parents later divorced, and his father returned to Austria. Alexander Joel, Billy’s half-brother is an acclaimed classical pianist and conductor in Europe.
From an early age, Billy Joel had an intense interest in music, especially classical music. Billy Joel started his piano lessons at age 4, and his interest in music instead of sports was the cause of many arguments and quarrels in his early years.
The 70’s: Piano Man, The Stranger, Stardom and Fame.
It was in 1973 that he achieved a great success with his album “Piano man”. And it is precisely the song that gives its name to the album, which is considered to date as one of the great songs of pop-rock of all time. In 1974, while in Los Angeles, he recorded the album “Streetlife Serenade” which included the hit “The Entertainer”, where he continues to approach the theme of the optimistic pianist, far from luck, but who struggles and is passionate about his vocation. Hard and competitive world, just like its predecessor “Piano Man”. In 1976 he recorded the album “Turnstiles”.
But the best was yet to come, for this composer pianist and singer, in 1977 the album “The Stranger” earned him two Grammy Awards, first as Best Record of the Year, with songs like “Movin ‘Out” or “Only the Good” Die Young “.In addition, the iconic “Just the Way You Are” was a success since its appearance, winner of the Grammy as best song of the year, and heard throughout the world, is perhaps the Billy Joel ‘s song with more versions in history, and was written for Elizabeth Weber his wife back then.
The 80’s: consecration
During the 1980s, Joel’s music changed, from that cheerful, virtuous and sticky rock / pop, accompanied by lyrics that spoke of experiences in bars, telling stories of trips and returns such as “Seen The Lights Gone Out On Broadway”, “New York State of Mind “or” Allentown” had a radical change when entering the 80, where his style and his lyrics changed to make them a little more romantic, introspective and quiet, especially at the beginning of the decade. Joel had to change the passivity of his lyrics and his music, which, not being passive, ceased to be brilliant, and had to adapt to the prevailing style of the 80s, to disproportionate joy in the explicit society in the songs of each artist.
In 1983, he released the album “An Innocent Man” with hits like “Tell Her About It” and the sticky “Uptown Girl”. This album is a Billy Joel tribute to the music of his childhood. Billy Joel considers this as an album of singers and pays tribute to different musical styles, including: “Uptown Girl” – A tribute to Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons “The Longest Time” – A doo-wop tribute, made popular in the mid-50’s.
