The Stranger, the Star, the Storyteller: Long Island’s Own Billy Joel Like You’ve Never Seen Him

Billy Joel might be the only person alive who can sell out Madison Square Garden for the hundredth time and still seem like someone you could run into at a bagel shop in Oyster Bay. He hasn’t released a new pop album in over two decades, but that hasn’t slowed him down, if anything, it’s cemented his place as a permanent fixture in both Long Island history and the soundtrack of American life.

So whether you know every lyric to “Piano Man” or just found out he’s from Hicksville, here are some truly crazy, completely true facts about Long Island’s own Billy Joel.

Personal Life of Billy Joel

• Born William Martin Joel on May 9, 1949

• His dad, Howard Joel, was a classical pianist; his mom, Rosalind Nyman, was a homemaker

• Both of his parents were Jewish

• He grew up in Hicksville, Nassau County

• In high school, he played in a band called The Echoes under the stage name Billy Martin

• Dropped out of high school to pursue music full time (he missed his graduation because he was playing a gig)

• Early career included time in the psychedelic rock band The Hassles, which disbanded in 1969

• That same year, he and a bandmate formed a short-lived heavy metal duo called Attila, yes, really

• Joel is a lifelong motorcycle enthusiast

• In 2020, someone broke into his home and vandalized 12 of his motorcycles

• He’s been married four times and has three children

• From 1985 to 1994, he was married to supermodel Christie Brinkley

• Their daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, is also a musician

Photo: The 1978 Epitome staff, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 

Songs, Albums, and Performances of Billy Joel

• Released his debut solo album Cold Spring Harbor in 1971 under Columbia Records

• “Piano Man,” his first North American single, dropped on November 2, 1973

• The song was inspired by his time playing in a bar in Los Angeles

• The lyric “the waitress is practicing politics” refers to his first wife, Elizabeth Weber, who worked at the bar with him

• The Stranger was his breakthrough album, featuring four hit singles and produced by Phil Ramone

• “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” became his first No. 1 hit in 1980

• 52nd Street, released in 1978, was named after the famous Manhattan jazz hub, and became the first commercially released album on compact disc (CD)

• “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” is one of his personal favorites and a staple of his live shows

• The cover of Glass Houses features Joel ready to throw a rock through the window of his real glass house in Cove Neck

• The Nylon Curtain was directly inspired by The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

• “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” released in 1989, was sparked by a conversation with Julian Lennon

• The song lists major world events and pop culture milestones from 1949 to 1989, essentially, Joel’s lifetime

• The historical events in the song are almost entirely chronological

• A parody of “We Didn’t Start the Fire” was used in a promotional spot for Star Trek: The Next Generation

• Joel played the final concerts at Shea Stadium before its demolition in 2008

• Those concerts were chronicled in the 2010 documentary The Last Play at Shea

• In 2017, during a show in New York City, Joel wore a yellow Star of David on his jacket to protest rising antisemitism

• In October 2022, a remastered version of his 1990 concert Live at Yankee Stadium hit theaters for a two-night global event

• Joel is the only artist to have played both Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium

Billy Joel: Records and Accolades

• He is the fourth best-selling solo artist in the U.S., according to the RIAA

• His Greatest Hits Volume I & Volume II (1985) is the second best-selling solo artist album of all time, right behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller

• On July 18, 2018, Governor Andrew Cuomo declared it “Billy Joel Day” in New York to honor his 100th Madison Square Garden performance

• Awarded an honorary doctorate of music from Stony Brook University in 2015

• Inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006

• Received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2013

• Also in 2013, awarded the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by the Library of Congress, the first non-classical musician to receive it

• Has performed more times at Madison Square Garden than any other artist, hitting a record-breaking 65 shows in 2013

• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999

• Entered the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992

• Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004

• In 1987, he became the first American rock star to perform a full concert tour in the Soviet Union, playing in both Moscow and Leningrad

• Joel has sold over 150 million records globally

• Winner of five Grammy Awards

Billy Joel didn’t just give Long Island a soundtrack, he turned it into a headliner. From bar gigs to baseball stadiums, from Cove Neck to the Kremlin, his journey has been anything but ordinary. And with no signs of slowing down, it’s safe to say that the Piano Man is still playing us a song we never want to end.

Cover images: David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Rob Mieremet / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons