Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joelis 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. His compilation album Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2 is one of the best-selling albums in the US...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth9 May 1949
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I always wanted to try to be a teacher even before I was in the music business. I liked history, and good teachers made an impact on me.
I'm kind of putting my toe back in the water and seeing how it feels. We're going to be doing stuff we haven't done for years and years and years. So I'm looking forward to seeing how this stuff flies.
I was listening to stuff and I realized that I've had a lot of different lives. You know the theory [that says] every seven years, you have a different life? I think that's true.
I'm not the kind of guy who wants to be on a pedestal.
I'm a piano player. I never thought of myself as a singer, at all. I was always trying to sound like somebody else. I don't like my own voice, I like Ray Charles, Robert Plant, I like Joe Cocker, Rod Stewart, people that have an edge in their voice.
I never stopped writing music, I just stopped writing songs. I've been writing music continually ever since the last album of original tunes, "River Of Dreams" in '93.
The biggest regret? This may be one of those years I have no regrets.
I was thinking of the Four Seasons, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and when I was thinking "Uptown Girl!" I was trying to sing like Frankie Valli. They had a song called "Ragdoll," which was about a poor girl and a rich guy. So I just flipped it around and made it about a rich girl and a poor guy.
I actually wrote the song first as "well, it's 9 o'clock on a Saturday." That bit. Then I said, You know what? It needs some kind of an introduction to kind of set the mood and set the flavor. So I just played this kind of cocktail lounge thing, the hustle and bustle of waitresses going by - that kind of thing.
I'm writing new music all the time. I'm just not writing pop stuff. It's not my goal.
Even when I stop performing or stop making records I won't stop being creative. Songwriting is a good outlet.
We passed the hash pipe and played our Doors tapes.
People in music lie, but they don't expect you to believe them. People in television actually expect you to believe the lies.
Some people stay far away from the door if there's a chance of it opening up. They hear a voice in the hall outside and hope that it just passes by.