WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.620 Welcome to the Deep Dive. So today, our mission, 00:00:03.700 --> 00:00:06.879 if you will, is to take this lifetime of music, 00:00:06.919 --> 00:00:10.539 of drama, and just all these unexpected turns, 00:00:10.679 --> 00:00:13.599 and really boil it down to the essence of a true 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:16.519 cultural titan. We are going deep on the life 00:00:16.519 --> 00:00:19.440 and career of William Martin Joel, the one and 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:21.879 only piano man. He's so much more than just a 00:00:21.879 --> 00:00:23.579 songwriter, though. I mean, Billy Joel is... 00:00:23.789 --> 00:00:25.510 an American institution. We're talking about 00:00:25.510 --> 00:00:27.510 one of the most successful musicians in history. 00:00:27.690 --> 00:00:29.949 The numbers are just staggering. They are. Fourth 00:00:29.949 --> 00:00:32.109 best -selling solo artist in the U .S. with, 00:00:32.210 --> 00:00:34.729 what, over 160 million records sold worldwide. 00:00:35.149 --> 00:00:37.490 And everyone knows the big hits, you know, Cano 00:00:37.490 --> 00:00:40.229 Man, Uptown Girl. But the real story, the one 00:00:40.229 --> 00:00:42.530 we're digging into, is the tension between his 00:00:42.530 --> 00:00:45.799 inner life and that massive public persona. And 00:00:45.799 --> 00:00:47.820 we have some amazing sources today. We've got 00:00:47.820 --> 00:00:50.200 comprehensive biographical data covering his 00:00:50.200 --> 00:00:53.579 12 main pop and rock studio albums. That's from 00:00:53.579 --> 00:00:56.579 71 all the way to 93. Plus that classical album, 00:00:56.659 --> 00:00:59.460 2001, which was such a left turn. And we're getting 00:00:59.460 --> 00:01:01.299 into the really dramatic details of his early 00:01:01.299 --> 00:01:03.679 life, including accounts that were just revealed 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:06.200 in that 2025 documentary. And of course, the 00:01:06.200 --> 00:01:09.180 recent health updates. And the central conflict 00:01:09.180 --> 00:01:11.640 of his entire artistic life, which our sources 00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:14.120 really bring to light, is this constant push 00:01:14.120 --> 00:01:16.799 and pull. It's between the identity he was born 00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:19.019 with and the one he was kind of forced to adopt. 00:01:19.239 --> 00:01:21.379 What do you mean by that? Well, he was this Long 00:01:21.379 --> 00:01:24.859 Island working class kid, you know, steeped in 00:01:24.859 --> 00:01:28.299 classical piano. But he violently rejected that 00:01:28.299 --> 00:01:31.019 formal training to become this rebellious rocker. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:34.140 Only to then, you know, once he's a global superstar, 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:37.000 he retires completely from pop music and goes 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:39.060 right back to classical composition. It's the 00:01:39.060 --> 00:01:41.099 ultimate artistic full circle. It's incredible. 00:01:41.299 --> 00:01:43.579 And the details scattered through this story 00:01:43.579 --> 00:01:46.340 are just... They're wild. Wait, are you telling 00:01:46.340 --> 00:01:48.859 me this global superstar, this classically trained 00:01:48.859 --> 00:01:51.879 genius, was an amateur boxer, he fought in the 00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:53.920 Golden Globes before he even decided on rock 00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:56.719 music? Absolutely. Yeah. The path to becoming 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:59.900 the Piano Man was, well, it was turbulent. It 00:01:59.900 --> 00:02:02.219 was not a straight line. The early struggles, 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:06.019 the financial trauma, the constant fight with 00:02:06.019 --> 00:02:08.539 critics, it all explains why his songs connect 00:02:08.539 --> 00:02:10.539 so deeply with people who feel like outsiders, 00:02:10.919 --> 00:02:12.979 even if they're sitting in a sold -out stadium. 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:16.819 Okay, let's unpack this. From teenage boxer who 00:02:16.819 --> 00:02:19.379 rejected his high school diploma to the classical 00:02:19.379 --> 00:02:23.520 composer who sold 160 million records, this man's 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:26.379 career is a fascinating deep dive. So to really 00:02:26.379 --> 00:02:28.620 get the intensity and, you know, the authenticity 00:02:28.620 --> 00:02:31.439 of Joel's lyrics, his whole identification with 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:33.780 the working class, with suburbia, with that sort 00:02:33.780 --> 00:02:35.560 of common struggle, you have to start not just 00:02:35.560 --> 00:02:37.419 with Long Island, but with the really dramatic 00:02:37.419 --> 00:02:40.039 history of his German Jewish family. Right. He 00:02:40.039 --> 00:02:43.560 was born in the Bronx, May 9, 1949. But the place 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:45.439 that really defined his identity was Hicksville, 00:02:45.479 --> 00:02:47.430 Long Island. His family moved there when he was 00:02:47.430 --> 00:02:49.509 just a year old. Yeah. And he grew up in a very 00:02:49.509 --> 00:02:52.009 standard kind of post -war nondescript house. 00:02:52.849 --> 00:02:54.710 Architecturally, it was a lot like the houses 00:02:54.710 --> 00:02:57.210 in Levittown, that famous planned community nearby. 00:02:57.569 --> 00:03:00.669 And he captures that suburban monotony so perfectly 00:03:00.669 --> 00:03:04.250 in songs like Moving Out. That whole environment, 00:03:04.330 --> 00:03:05.930 for better or worse, that's where all his inspiration 00:03:05.930 --> 00:03:08.090 comes from. And that suburban life was such a 00:03:08.090 --> 00:03:10.610 stark contrast to his family's European history. 00:03:11.009 --> 00:03:14.409 His father, Howard Joel, original helmet, was 00:03:14.409 --> 00:03:17.310 a really accomplished amateur classical pianist. 00:03:17.370 --> 00:03:19.969 He was born in Nuremberg, Germany. And the family 00:03:19.969 --> 00:03:22.669 story is one of just profound trauma. They were 00:03:22.669 --> 00:03:25.770 forced to flee the Nazi regime. That history 00:03:25.770 --> 00:03:28.250 is absolutely key, isn't it? Joel's grandfather, 00:03:28.509 --> 00:03:31.189 Karl Anson Joel, he didn't just move. I mean, 00:03:31.189 --> 00:03:33.870 he was forced out under incredible duress. He 00:03:33.870 --> 00:03:36.889 ran this hugely successful mail order textile 00:03:36.889 --> 00:03:39.550 company, Joel Macht Fabric. It was the second 00:03:39.550 --> 00:03:41.409 largest of its kind in all of Germany. But because 00:03:41.409 --> 00:03:43.310 of Nazi laws that prevented Jews from owning 00:03:43.310 --> 00:03:46.150 property. Carl was forced to sell that thriving 00:03:46.150 --> 00:03:48.810 business to a man named Joseph Neckerman for, 00:03:48.889 --> 00:03:50.969 what, just a tiny fraction of its real value? 00:03:51.189 --> 00:03:54.009 It was basically state -sanctioned theft. The 00:03:54.009 --> 00:03:56.689 family emigrated in 1939, and they had to come 00:03:56.689 --> 00:03:59.169 to the U .S. through Cuba because of the strict 00:03:59.169 --> 00:04:02.009 American immigration quotas back then. And even 00:04:02.009 --> 00:04:04.150 though Joel said his parents rarely ever spoke 00:04:04.150 --> 00:04:06.409 about the war, that deep historical economic 00:04:06.409 --> 00:04:08.870 trauma, it must have shaped the whole family 00:04:08.870 --> 00:04:11.469 dynamic. Of course, that sense of loss and striving, 00:04:11.530 --> 00:04:15.189 you can feel it. He carried his own baggage. 00:04:15.810 --> 00:04:18.610 He divorced Billy's mother, Rosalind, in 1957 00:04:18.610 --> 00:04:20.670 and went back to Europe. He ended up in Vienna. 00:04:20.790 --> 00:04:22.930 Yeah. He apparently felt that the United States 00:04:22.930 --> 00:04:25.769 was just, you know, an uneducated, materialistic 00:04:25.769 --> 00:04:28.389 country. Which is so fascinating because it creates 00:04:28.389 --> 00:04:31.209 this huge generational split. Right. Billy Joel 00:04:31.209 --> 00:04:33.649 has a half brother, Alexander Joel, from his 00:04:33.649 --> 00:04:36.649 father's later marriage in England. And Alexander 00:04:36.649 --> 00:04:39.250 fully embraced that European path. He became 00:04:39.250 --> 00:04:41.310 a chief classical conductor. And at the same 00:04:41.310 --> 00:04:43.189 time, you've got young Billy back in Long Island 00:04:43.189 --> 00:04:45.329 fighting to get out of the piano lessons his 00:04:45.329 --> 00:04:48.509 mom insisted on. It is the definition of irony. 00:04:48.709 --> 00:04:50.610 Yeah. While his dad and his half brother are 00:04:50.610 --> 00:04:53.009 embracing this rigorous European classical tradition, 00:04:53.209 --> 00:04:56.089 Billy is being like dragged into it. He started 00:04:56.089 --> 00:04:58.819 lessons when he was four. Can you imagine? He 00:04:58.819 --> 00:05:00.560 kept up the formal lessons until he was about 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:04.019 16. And our sources say he would often just improvise 00:05:04.019 --> 00:05:06.100 during lessons to get out of reading the sheet 00:05:06.100 --> 00:05:08.899 music. So even then, you see that resistance 00:05:08.899 --> 00:05:11.639 to structure. He was already trusting his ear 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:13.920 over everything else. And that rebellious streak, 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:16.319 it all culminates in that famous dropout story. 00:05:16.579 --> 00:05:19.420 He was at Hicksville High School, but by 1967, 00:05:19.720 --> 00:05:22.519 he was already playing late night gigs in piano 00:05:22.519 --> 00:05:24.600 bars to help support his mom and sister. After 00:05:24.600 --> 00:05:27.930 the divorce. Exactly. He misses this crucial 00:05:27.930 --> 00:05:31.029 English exam one day. And when the school administration 00:05:31.029 --> 00:05:33.670 gives him a hard time, he delivers that legendary 00:05:33.670 --> 00:05:36.990 line. To hell with it. If I'm not going to Columbia 00:05:36.990 --> 00:05:39.449 University, I'm going to Columbia Records and 00:05:39.449 --> 00:05:41.250 you don't need a high school diploma over there. 00:05:41.490 --> 00:05:44.389 That is just classic American defiance, isn't 00:05:44.389 --> 00:05:46.810 it? Rejecting the system to chase your dream. 00:05:47.189 --> 00:05:50.490 But before he went all in on music, he had this 00:05:50.490 --> 00:05:53.430 totally different outlet for that defiance. Amateur 00:05:53.430 --> 00:05:55.930 boxing. This is the detail that always shocks 00:05:55.930 --> 00:05:58.990 people. The ones who only know him as the just 00:05:58.990 --> 00:06:02.110 the way you are guy. He competed as an amateur 00:06:02.110 --> 00:06:04.110 welterweight on the Golden Glove circuit and 00:06:04.110 --> 00:06:07.750 he was good. He won 22 of 26 fights before he 00:06:07.750 --> 00:06:09.990 finally quit. Wait hang on. So he was actively 00:06:09.990 --> 00:06:13.069 boxing competing while he was also reluctantly 00:06:13.069 --> 00:06:16.370 taking piano lessons. I mean how did that physical 00:06:16.370 --> 00:06:19.230 aggression did it show up in his early lyrics. 00:06:19.410 --> 00:06:22.170 It just suggests this profound inner conflict 00:06:22.170 --> 00:06:25.149 you know. The composer's hand versus the fighter's 00:06:25.149 --> 00:06:27.170 fist. It really speaks to that working class 00:06:27.170 --> 00:06:29.470 identity he was building. He was not afraid of 00:06:29.470 --> 00:06:31.610 a fight, whether it was in a ring or later with 00:06:31.610 --> 00:06:34.050 a music critic. The sources all point to one 00:06:34.050 --> 00:06:36.389 moment that cemented the shift from boxing to 00:06:36.389 --> 00:06:38.870 music, though. the beatles on the ed sullivan 00:06:38.870 --> 00:06:42.269 show in 1964. oh of course yeah he saw john lennon 00:06:42.269 --> 00:06:43.990 who didn't look like some polished hollywood 00:06:43.990 --> 00:06:46.350 star and he just felt this connection a sense 00:06:46.350 --> 00:06:48.250 that you know you could be a rebel and still 00:06:48.250 --> 00:06:50.430 make your own music so he starts moving through 00:06:50.430 --> 00:06:53.069 the local band scene the echoes the lost souls 00:06:53.069 --> 00:06:55.410 then the hassles which had a couple of albums 00:06:55.410 --> 00:06:57.889 that went absolutely nowhere but the next stage 00:06:57.889 --> 00:07:02.199 that duo attila in 1969 That led directly to 00:07:02.199 --> 00:07:05.519 his first huge personal catastrophe. Oh, Attila 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:08.459 was a it was a brief, bizarre venture, a sort 00:07:08.459 --> 00:07:11.560 of heavy organ and drum rock duo with a guy named 00:07:11.560 --> 00:07:14.160 John Small. It fell apart very quickly in October 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:17.600 1970 because Joel started an affair with John 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:20.019 Small's wife, Elizabeth Weber, and she would 00:07:20.019 --> 00:07:22.240 later become his first wife and crucially his 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:24.959 manager. And that event just triggered a devastating 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:28.670 downward spiral. The 2025 documentary. and so 00:07:28.670 --> 00:07:31.490 it goes, really brought the details of this severe 00:07:31.490 --> 00:07:34.290 depressive period into focus. It revealed he 00:07:34.290 --> 00:07:37.449 attempted suicide twice in 1970. It really just 00:07:37.449 --> 00:07:40.050 underscores the high personal and emotional stakes 00:07:40.050 --> 00:07:42.649 of that early struggle. It was right after his 00:07:42.649 --> 00:07:44.370 band collapsed, his relationship with Small was 00:07:44.370 --> 00:07:46.430 destroyed, Joel was evicted, he felt like he 00:07:46.430 --> 00:07:48.470 had nowhere to go, and he described his depression 00:07:48.470 --> 00:07:50.889 as almost being psychotic. The first attempt 00:07:50.889 --> 00:07:52.810 was with sleeping pills, right? It led to a coma 00:07:52.810 --> 00:07:55.449 for several days. Yes. And when he woke up, he 00:07:55.449 --> 00:07:57.129 was actually disappointed that it hadn't worked. 00:07:57.689 --> 00:07:59.629 The sources described the second attempt as even 00:07:59.629 --> 00:08:02.689 more visceral. He drank furniture polish. He 00:08:02.689 --> 00:08:05.110 later said it looked tastier than bleach. And 00:08:05.110 --> 00:08:08.509 it was John Small, the man whose wife he'd pursued, 00:08:08.670 --> 00:08:11.490 who rushed him to the hospital. Yes, to Meadowbrook 00:08:11.490 --> 00:08:13.970 Hospital. He was admitted for depression treatment, 00:08:14.110 --> 00:08:17.189 put on suicide watch. The song Tomorrow Is Today 00:08:17.189 --> 00:08:19.709 from his first album. He later said that was 00:08:19.709 --> 00:08:22.810 basically his suicide note. That history is just 00:08:22.810 --> 00:08:25.730 incredibly raw. It shows that the Piano Man's 00:08:25.730 --> 00:08:27.709 early career wasn't just fueled by ambition. 00:08:28.009 --> 00:08:30.850 It was fueled by some profound emotional turmoil. 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:34.120 So if he rejected high school that forcefully 00:08:34.120 --> 00:08:36.860 to chase rock fame, how badly did he take the 00:08:36.860 --> 00:08:39.340 shame of that first commercial flop Cold Spring 00:08:39.340 --> 00:08:41.539 Harbor, which came right after that emotional 00:08:41.539 --> 00:08:44.360 crisis? Cold Spring Harbor from 1971 was supposed 00:08:44.360 --> 00:08:46.820 to be his big launch. It has early versions of 00:08:46.820 --> 00:08:49.820 classics like She's Got A Way. But the release 00:08:49.820 --> 00:08:52.519 was completely sabotaged by this colossal technical 00:08:52.519 --> 00:08:55.340 error. The album was mastered at too high a speed. 00:08:55.580 --> 00:08:57.360 And we're not talking about a minor issue here, 00:08:57.419 --> 00:08:59.919 are we? It changed the pitch of the entire record. 00:09:00.360 --> 00:09:03.419 It made his voice sound tinny and sped up. Yeah, 00:09:03.500 --> 00:09:06.179 critics called it chipmunk -like. It was a commercial 00:09:06.179 --> 00:09:09.340 disaster and a huge source of humiliation for 00:09:09.340 --> 00:09:12.419 him. And on top of that, he had signed this absolutely 00:09:12.419 --> 00:09:15.679 brutal contract with Artie Ripp's family productions. 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:18.220 Oh, it was crippling. Ripp didn't just own the 00:09:18.220 --> 00:09:20.779 master tapes. He owned all the publishing rights 00:09:20.779 --> 00:09:23.159 and future royalties. It basically left Joel 00:09:23.159 --> 00:09:26.700 financially powerless. So to escape all this... 00:09:27.399 --> 00:09:30.620 This legal and commercial disaster. He just vanishes. 00:09:30.659 --> 00:09:33.080 He moves across the country to Los Angeles and 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:36.039 works incognito for six months as Bill Martin 00:09:36.039 --> 00:09:38.419 at the Executive Room Piano Bar on Wilshire Boulevard. 00:09:38.659 --> 00:09:41.120 And that period, being this anonymous working 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:44.000 musician dealing with drunk businessmen and lonely 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:46.440 barflies, it's the stuff of legend because it 00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:49.539 directly inspired Piano Man. He drew the characters, 00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:51.899 John at the bar, the real estate novelist from 00:09:51.899 --> 00:09:54.460 the people he saw every night. And that song 00:09:54.460 --> 00:09:57.250 is the perfect distillation of his skill. It's 00:09:57.250 --> 00:09:59.250 narrative storytelling over musical complexity. 00:09:59.490 --> 00:10:01.889 It became his signature. He ends almost every 00:10:01.889 --> 00:10:04.860 single concert with it. The ultimate break didn't 00:10:04.860 --> 00:10:06.620 even come through the label system. It came from 00:10:06.620 --> 00:10:09.340 Radio Rebellion, a live performance of Captain 00:10:09.340 --> 00:10:13.340 Jack, recorded in Philly, got broadcast on WMMR 00:10:13.340 --> 00:10:16.940 -FM in 1972. And that track just exploded. It 00:10:16.940 --> 00:10:19.059 became the station's most requested song, an 00:10:19.059 --> 00:10:21.299 underground hit all up and down the East Coast. 00:10:21.480 --> 00:10:22.820 That's what finally got him noticed by Columbia 00:10:22.820 --> 00:10:25.659 Records, right? Exactly. An executive named Herb 00:10:25.659 --> 00:10:28.320 Gordon heard it. They managed to renegotiate 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:30.559 his horrible contract with Artie Ripp, though 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:32.700 Ripp still got a piece of his sales until 19... 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:36.419 And they signed him to Columbia in 1972. It's 00:10:36.419 --> 00:10:39.600 just a classic arc, massive failure, a secret 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:42.539 identity, and then a radio -driven breakout that 00:10:42.539 --> 00:10:44.639 forced the establishment to finally pay attention. 00:10:44.860 --> 00:10:47.240 So once that awful contract was at least partly 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:50.159 fixed and he was at Columbia, everything changed. 00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:52.620 We're moving from those struggling, anonymous 00:10:52.620 --> 00:10:56.019 years to the breakthrough moment of 1977's The 00:10:56.019 --> 00:10:57.960 Stranger. And the key to that whole transformation 00:10:57.960 --> 00:11:01.000 was a new partner, Phil Ramone. Ramone was a 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:03.120 legendary producer. He went on to produce seven 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:05.740 straight studio albums with Joel, starting with 00:11:05.740 --> 00:11:07.460 The Stranger. How did that collaboration even 00:11:07.460 --> 00:11:09.720 happen? It was born out of necessity, really. 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:13.000 Joel's first wife, Elizabeth, she personally 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:16.200 called Ramone. He was impressed by a Carnegie 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:19.120 Hall show Joel did in 77 and agreed to take the 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:21.860 job. So what did Ramone bring that was so different? 00:11:22.019 --> 00:11:23.580 I mean, up to that point, Joel was still kind 00:11:23.580 --> 00:11:25.700 of finding his sound. Ramone brought discipline 00:11:25.700 --> 00:11:29.919 and clarity. He streamlined everything. Previous 00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:32.600 albums were sometimes over -orchestrated. Ramone 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:35.019 put Joel's piano front and center, giving it 00:11:35.019 --> 00:11:38.039 this almost crystalline precision. It really 00:11:38.039 --> 00:11:40.700 showcased Joel's classical training. He created 00:11:40.700 --> 00:11:43.200 this sonic signature that was polished, but it 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:45.379 still had that New York edge. And this Georgia 00:11:45.379 --> 00:11:47.500 wasn't just a hit. It was a cultural phenomenon. 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:49.779 It became Columbia Records' best -selling album 00:11:49.779 --> 00:11:52.360 at the time. It even beat Simon & Garfunkel's 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:54.580 Bridge Over Troubled Water. Yeah, that album 00:11:54.580 --> 00:11:57.179 launched him from being this respected cult artist 00:11:57.179 --> 00:11:59.899 into a true household name. It was a massive 00:11:59.899 --> 00:12:02.220 critical success, too. He won Record of the Year 00:12:02.220 --> 00:12:04.340 and Song of the Year for Just the Way You Are. 00:12:04.669 --> 00:12:07.149 Which is such a great detail because that song 00:12:07.149 --> 00:12:09.789 was famously written for his first wife and manager, 00:12:09.970 --> 00:12:13.710 Elizabeth Weber, the same person who is so instrumental 00:12:13.710 --> 00:12:15.830 in getting him to Ramone in the first place. 00:12:16.129 --> 00:12:18.149 And then you have the songs that really made 00:12:18.149 --> 00:12:21.269 him an album artist. Scenes from an Italian restaurant. 00:12:21.950 --> 00:12:24.929 It's a seven and a half minute epic. It shifts 00:12:24.929 --> 00:12:27.110 through different movements, a ballad, a doo 00:12:27.110 --> 00:12:29.789 -wop part, a frantic middle section. It's the 00:12:29.789 --> 00:12:33.210 kind of complex narrative work that AOR stations, 00:12:33.409 --> 00:12:35.769 the ones that play. album tracks just lived for. 00:12:35.950 --> 00:12:39.190 And what about Vienna? A deep cut from that album 00:12:39.190 --> 00:12:41.590 that has had this incredible resurgence. It's 00:12:41.590 --> 00:12:43.889 amazing. In the streaming era, it's become one 00:12:43.889 --> 00:12:46.330 of his most streamed songs. It proves that its 00:12:46.330 --> 00:12:49.230 message, slow down, you're doing fine, is just 00:12:49.230 --> 00:12:51.669 completely timeless. Rolling Stone later ranked 00:12:51.669 --> 00:12:54.070 The Stranger as the 70th greatest album of all 00:12:54.070 --> 00:12:56.169 time. The acclaim was just immediate and it has 00:12:56.169 --> 00:12:58.350 lasted. And that momentum just carried straight 00:12:58.350 --> 00:13:01.779 into 52nd Street in 1978. It became his first 00:13:01.779 --> 00:13:03.799 album to hit number one on the Billboard 200. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:05.759 Yeah, and it was named right after the street 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:08.259 where the CBS Columbia headquarters was. This 00:13:08.259 --> 00:13:10.679 one repeated the award success, too. Grammys 00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:13.120 for Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:16.419 But here's where this little technological footnote 00:13:16.419 --> 00:13:20.120 becomes, like, historic. 52nd Street was the 00:13:20.120 --> 00:13:22.360 first album ever to be commercially released 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:26.120 on the compact disc format back in 1982. That's 00:13:26.120 --> 00:13:28.789 a huge insight. He wasn't just on the new format. 00:13:28.929 --> 00:13:31.970 He was the launchpad for it. Why his music? His 00:13:31.970 --> 00:13:35.029 sound was perfect for it. The CD promised this 00:13:35.029 --> 00:13:37.169 pristine audio, you know, no pops and scratches 00:13:37.169 --> 00:13:39.850 like vinyl. And because Ramone's production was 00:13:39.850 --> 00:13:42.289 so clean and precise, focusing on the piano and 00:13:42.289 --> 00:13:45.470 layered horns, 52nd Street was the ideal way 00:13:45.470 --> 00:13:48.610 to show off the CD's fidelity. He literally pioneered 00:13:48.610 --> 00:13:50.549 the way the world consumed music for the next 00:13:50.549 --> 00:13:52.710 20 years. And at the same time, his international 00:13:52.710 --> 00:13:56.169 presence was growing. In 1979, he goes to Havana, 00:13:56.230 --> 00:13:59.360 Cuba. The Havana Jam Festival. A huge moment 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:02.100 of cultural diplomacy during the Cold War. It 00:14:02.100 --> 00:14:04.679 was an attempt by CBS Records to showcase American 00:14:04.679 --> 00:14:07.360 artists in Cuba. And while there were all these 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:10.000 logistical nightmares, they couldn't even properly 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:13.419 record or film his performance. Joel's set was, 00:14:13.639 --> 00:14:16.419 according to a lot of reports, the absolute highlight 00:14:16.419 --> 00:14:19.100 of the whole weekend. It showed his music could 00:14:19.100 --> 00:14:22.240 transcend political borders. Which sets the stage 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:25.460 for a big creative pivot in 1980 with Glass Houses. 00:14:25.870 --> 00:14:28.649 By this point, he's rich, he's famous, he's critically 00:14:28.649 --> 00:14:31.450 acclaimed. But the media keeps labeling him a 00:14:31.450 --> 00:14:34.710 mellow balladeer or soft rocker. And he wanted 00:14:34.710 --> 00:14:37.490 to fight back. Glass Houses was a literal rebuttal 00:14:37.490 --> 00:14:39.789 to that. It was a conscious effort to prove he 00:14:39.789 --> 00:14:42.529 could rock harder. He was trying to compete with 00:14:42.529 --> 00:14:45.169 the energy of new wave acts like The Cars or 00:14:45.169 --> 00:14:47.409 Blondie, and his lyrics shifted from character 00:14:47.409 --> 00:14:49.970 studies to this very defensive, confrontational 00:14:49.970 --> 00:14:51.809 style. The album cover says it all, doesn't it? 00:14:51.909 --> 00:14:54.450 It shows him in a leather jacket about to throw 00:14:54.450 --> 00:14:56.549 a rock through the window of his own Long Island 00:14:56.549 --> 00:14:58.789 home. Exactly. It's a direct visual message. 00:14:58.929 --> 00:15:00.570 If you're going to criticize me in my glass house, 00:15:00.649 --> 00:15:02.929 I'll smash it myself. And commercially, it worked. 00:15:03.529 --> 00:15:06.230 The album spent six weeks at number one, and 00:15:06.230 --> 00:15:09.769 it finally gave him his first single to top the 00:15:09.769 --> 00:15:12.629 Billboard Hot 100. It's still rock and roll to 00:15:12.629 --> 00:15:15.370 me. And the lyric, I don't care what you say 00:15:15.370 --> 00:15:17.450 about my clothes, it's still rock and roll to 00:15:17.450 --> 00:15:20.409 me. That's the ultimate expression of that defiance. 00:15:20.610 --> 00:15:23.710 And in New York, he just becomes a legend. His 00:15:23.710 --> 00:15:26.149 five sold -out shows at Madison Square Garden 00:15:26.149 --> 00:15:30.169 in 1980 earn him their gold ticket award. He 00:15:30.169 --> 00:15:31.889 was already starting to build that foundation 00:15:31.889 --> 00:15:34.490 for his reign as the ultimate New York artist. 00:15:34.850 --> 00:15:38.070 After that heavy rock phase, 1982 brings the 00:15:38.070 --> 00:15:41.139 Nylon Curtain. Which felt like his most ambitious 00:15:41.139 --> 00:15:43.840 album yet, both lyrically and musically. Right. 00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:46.860 If Last Houses was reactive, The Nylon Curtain 00:15:46.860 --> 00:15:49.659 was reflective. Joel wanted to create a sonic 00:15:49.659 --> 00:15:52.159 masterpiece. He was heavily influenced by later 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:54.799 Beatles stuff. And he wanted to tackle the state 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:56.840 of the American dream under the Reagan administration. 00:15:57.340 --> 00:15:59.840 You hear that ambition in tracks like Allentown. 00:16:00.220 --> 00:16:01.960 which is about the decline of American manufacturing, 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:04.700 and Goodnight Saigon, about the trauma of Vietnam 00:16:04.700 --> 00:16:07.320 veterans. A topic most people were ignoring back 00:16:07.320 --> 00:16:09.860 then. This was him trying to solidify his legacy 00:16:09.860 --> 00:16:13.419 as a serious, topical songwriter, not just a 00:16:13.419 --> 00:16:15.679 pop star. The making of that album was physically 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:18.279 difficult for him, too. Yeah, in 1982, he was 00:16:18.279 --> 00:16:20.759 in a really serious motorcycle accident on Long 00:16:20.759 --> 00:16:23.159 Island. A car ran a red light. He was flipped 00:16:23.159 --> 00:16:25.700 over it. He crushed the bone in his left thumb, 00:16:25.879 --> 00:16:28.940 dislocated his other wrist. The album was delayed 00:16:28.940 --> 00:16:31.580 for months. That must have been terrifying for 00:16:31.580 --> 00:16:33.860 a musician whose entire career depends on his 00:16:33.860 --> 00:16:36.330 hands. But the album still went to number seven, 00:16:36.370 --> 00:16:38.549 partly because of heavy airplay on MTV, right? 00:16:38.649 --> 00:16:41.409 Yeah. The videos for Allentown and Pressure were 00:16:41.409 --> 00:16:43.350 cinematic and they were on constant rotation 00:16:43.350 --> 00:16:45.990 on the new MTV network. That whole seven year 00:16:45.990 --> 00:16:48.909 period, 77 to 83, you just see him consolidating 00:16:48.909 --> 00:16:51.649 his position. He proved he could do pop, rock 00:16:51.649 --> 00:16:54.429 and deep political songwriting. He had established 00:16:54.429 --> 00:16:57.350 himself as a composer of immense range. The intensity 00:16:57.350 --> 00:17:00.250 of the nylon curtain and that motorcycle accident. 00:17:00.750 --> 00:17:02.590 It must have been draining because right after 00:17:02.590 --> 00:17:05.130 that, in 1983, he swings completely the other 00:17:05.130 --> 00:17:07.130 way with an innocent man. It feels like a deliberate 00:17:07.130 --> 00:17:10.630 retreat into nostalgia. It was a pure, joyful 00:17:10.630 --> 00:17:14.069 homage. The album was a tribute to the R &B and 00:17:14.069 --> 00:17:16.809 doo -wop of the 50s and 60s. It was a conscious 00:17:16.809 --> 00:17:20.029 move to a lighter, less political tone. It really 00:17:20.029 --> 00:17:22.569 felt like he was looking for refuge in the sounds 00:17:22.569 --> 00:17:24.329 of his youth. And it was massively successful 00:17:24.329 --> 00:17:27.049 because it was so accessible. It had six top 00:17:27.049 --> 00:17:30.470 30 singles. Including that... instantly recognizable 00:17:30.470 --> 00:17:33.549 a capella track the longest time and tell her 00:17:33.549 --> 00:17:35.750 about it and of course the song that became a 00:17:35.750 --> 00:17:38.589 defining hit of the era uptown girl uptown girl 00:17:38.589 --> 00:17:41.150 has such a great backstory it perfectly shows 00:17:41.150 --> 00:17:43.869 how his personal life and his art were intersecting 00:17:43.869 --> 00:17:46.690 it was originally called uptown girls plural 00:17:46.690 --> 00:17:49.430 it was inspired by a trip he took to the caribbean 00:17:49.430 --> 00:17:51.109 where he found himself hanging out with christy 00:17:51.109 --> 00:17:54.190 brinkley whitney houston and l mcpherson and 00:17:54.190 --> 00:17:57.160 the video With Christie Brinkley as the high 00:17:57.160 --> 00:17:59.920 society girl in the Rolls Royce and Joel as the 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:02.200 grease monkey at the gas station. Yeah. It just 00:18:02.200 --> 00:18:04.559 cemented that image in the public mind and led 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:07.619 directly to their marriage in 1985. It's a perfect 00:18:07.619 --> 00:18:10.779 snapshot of 80s celebrity culture. And this string 00:18:10.779 --> 00:18:13.000 of hits led directly to that commercial monster, 00:18:13.180 --> 00:18:16.539 his greatest hits, Volume 1 and Volume 2 in 1985. 00:18:17.160 --> 00:18:19.880 A monster is right. That compilation went double 00:18:19.880 --> 00:18:23.440 diamond. That's 11 .5 million copies sold, which 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:26.660 equals 23 million units. It is still one of the 00:18:26.660 --> 00:18:29.160 best -selling albums in U .S. history. So that's 00:18:29.160 --> 00:18:32.119 the absolute peak of his commercial power. But 00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:35.599 then in 1987, he does something truly unusual, 00:18:35.900 --> 00:18:38.970 the Soviet experiment. This wasn't just a concert 00:18:38.970 --> 00:18:41.990 tour. It was a Cold War cultural moment. It was 00:18:41.990 --> 00:18:45.309 huge. Joel became one of the first Western artists 00:18:45.309 --> 00:18:47.930 to do a full -on pop rock tour in the Soviet 00:18:47.930 --> 00:18:51.470 Union. Six shows in Moscow and Leningrad. The 00:18:51.470 --> 00:18:54.089 concerts were the first live rock radio broadcast 00:18:54.089 --> 00:18:57.069 in Soviet history. It was a genuine attempt at 00:18:57.069 --> 00:18:59.529 cultural diplomacy under Gorbachev's policy of 00:18:59.529 --> 00:19:01.990 glasnost. But the sources say it did not go smoothly. 00:19:02.430 --> 00:19:04.890 Mostly because of the cultural clash. Joel was 00:19:04.890 --> 00:19:07.250 used to American crowds singing and dancing. 00:19:07.430 --> 00:19:09.930 The Soviet audiences were much more reserved. 00:19:10.130 --> 00:19:12.349 And that reservation was enforced. Jill later 00:19:12.349 --> 00:19:14.230 explained that whenever fans got too excited, 00:19:14.410 --> 00:19:16.589 Soviet security guards who had no idea how to 00:19:16.589 --> 00:19:18.609 handle a rock concert would literally remove 00:19:18.609 --> 00:19:20.690 them. Plus, the house lights were always shining 00:19:20.690 --> 00:19:23.069 brightly on the crowd, which Joel found incredibly 00:19:23.069 --> 00:19:26.490 distracting. And this led to that famous... just 00:19:26.490 --> 00:19:30.269 explosive meltdown on stage. Yes, he was so enraged 00:19:30.269 --> 00:19:32.230 by the lights and the disconnect with the audience, 00:19:32.390 --> 00:19:34.450 he felt he couldn't reach them. He just flipped 00:19:34.450 --> 00:19:36.589 his electric piano over and snapped a microphone 00:19:36.589 --> 00:19:39.329 stand mid -song. All while still singing. All 00:19:39.329 --> 00:19:41.730 while still singing. Wow. It was just this moment 00:19:41.730 --> 00:19:44.750 of raw, unedited frustration, and it was all 00:19:44.750 --> 00:19:46.930 caught on camera. He later said he was profoundly 00:19:46.930 --> 00:19:50.029 embarrassed and apologized, but... The damage 00:19:50.029 --> 00:19:52.210 was done. It really highlights how hard it was 00:19:52.210 --> 00:19:54.509 to be an American cultural ambassador in such 00:19:54.509 --> 00:19:57.170 a rigid environment. And financially, it was 00:19:57.170 --> 00:20:00.049 a disaster for him. A total disaster. Joel estimated 00:20:00.049 --> 00:20:02.210 he lost over a million dollars of his own money 00:20:02.210 --> 00:20:04.690 on that trip. The live album that came from it, 00:20:04.750 --> 00:20:07.930 Co -Opt, which is Russian for concert, it didn't 00:20:07.930 --> 00:20:10.250 even go gold. It was his worst selling release 00:20:10.250 --> 00:20:12.980 since Cold Spring Harbor. A huge financial loss 00:20:12.980 --> 00:20:15.880 for a brief bit of cultural goodwill. So as we 00:20:15.880 --> 00:20:18.839 move into the late 80s, his problems become less 00:20:18.839 --> 00:20:21.440 about international diplomacy and more about 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:24.240 corporate betrayal. The recording of Stormfront 00:20:24.240 --> 00:20:27.140 in 88 happened at the same time his business 00:20:27.140 --> 00:20:29.440 affairs were just completely collapsing. It was 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:31.579 a critical point. We're talking about massive 00:20:31.579 --> 00:20:34.259 financial fraud at the highest level. of his 00:20:34.259 --> 00:20:37.660 inner circle he fired and sued his manager who 00:20:37.660 --> 00:20:39.960 was also his former brother -in -law frank weber 00:20:39.960 --> 00:20:44.180 for an incredible 90 million dollars 90 million 00:20:44.180 --> 00:20:47.220 90 million the allegations were that weber had 00:20:47.220 --> 00:20:50.160 systematically defrauded him through shady tax 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:53.779 shelters mismanaged funds and just siphoned off 00:20:53.779 --> 00:20:56.480 millions in royalties it was a profound betrayal 00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:59.240 the audacity of it is just shocking it wasn't 00:20:59.240 --> 00:21:01.440 just losing the money it was realizing someone 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:03.829 who was family had been stealing from him for 00:21:03.829 --> 00:21:05.930 years. Oh, it definitely influenced his creative 00:21:05.930 --> 00:21:09.170 mood. The song The Great Wall of China on Stormfront 00:21:09.170 --> 00:21:11.410 is specifically about Frank Webber. It's just 00:21:11.410 --> 00:21:14.230 a musical expression of his anger. And that turmoil 00:21:14.230 --> 00:21:16.470 also led him to sue his longtime lawyer, Alan 00:21:16.470 --> 00:21:19.230 Grubman, also for $90 million. Given that backdrop 00:21:19.230 --> 00:21:22.109 of anger and betrayal, it makes sense that Stormfront 00:21:22.109 --> 00:21:24.450 had a different sound. He worked with Mick Jones 00:21:24.450 --> 00:21:27.210 from Foreigner, and the result was a harder -edged 00:21:27.210 --> 00:21:29.650 album and a new band. And it gave him his third 00:21:29.650 --> 00:21:32.440 and final U .S. number one hit. We Didn't Start 00:21:32.440 --> 00:21:35.440 the Fire, a frenetic history lesson that just 00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:38.640 became an instant cultural touchstone. But just 00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:41.200 as important, the album had the Downeaster Alexa, 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:44.059 which highlighted the economic struggles of Long 00:21:44.059 --> 00:21:46.539 Island fishermen. And this is where his working 00:21:46.539 --> 00:21:50.140 class loyalty becomes real political activism. 00:21:50.259 --> 00:21:53.000 This wasn't just a theme for a song. He actually 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:57.529 took action. He did. In 1992, he donated proceeds 00:21:57.529 --> 00:21:59.869 from the song to defend East Hampton fishermen. 00:22:00.269 --> 00:22:03.529 He even joined a protest himself and got charged 00:22:03.529 --> 00:22:05.650 with fishing violations, though the charges were 00:22:05.650 --> 00:22:07.829 later dismissed. You see the complexity there. 00:22:07.930 --> 00:22:10.910 A millionaire rock star who still genuinely connects 00:22:10.910 --> 00:22:13.069 with and fights for the working class he came 00:22:13.069 --> 00:22:15.109 from. And the end of his pop songwriting era 00:22:15.109 --> 00:22:18.450 came in 1993 with River of Dreams. After all 00:22:18.450 --> 00:22:20.910 the financial chaos and the pressure, he decided 00:22:20.910 --> 00:22:22.970 this album would be his retirement from making 00:22:22.970 --> 00:22:25.250 new pop records. The last track, Famous Last 00:22:25.250 --> 00:22:28.390 Words, literally symbolizes that farewell. The 00:22:28.390 --> 00:22:30.230 album cover was famously painted by his wife 00:22:30.230 --> 00:22:32.529 at the time, Christy Brinkley. and it gave him 00:22:32.529 --> 00:22:35.089 his last top 10 hit that he wrote himself the 00:22:35.089 --> 00:22:38.569 title track the river of dreams and it had lullaby 00:22:38.569 --> 00:22:41.069 good night my angel which was for his daughter 00:22:41.069 --> 00:22:44.690 alexa it was a successful heartfelt goodbye it 00:22:44.690 --> 00:22:47.710 drew a line under his 22 -year career as a pop 00:22:47.710 --> 00:22:50.920 artist and the big question then became What 00:22:50.920 --> 00:22:53.380 does the Piano Man do when he decides to stop 00:22:53.380 --> 00:22:56.059 writing pop songs? Well, he didn't retire from 00:22:56.059 --> 00:22:58.160 performing, that's for sure. He just retired 00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:00.559 from the pressure of the album cycle. He became 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:02.559 this unprecedented touring machine, especially 00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:04.539 with his face -to -face tours with Elton John. 00:23:04.700 --> 00:23:07.539 Which started in 1994. That concert tandem was 00:23:07.539 --> 00:23:09.660 just massively successful. It ran all the way 00:23:09.660 --> 00:23:11.960 to 2010. It's considered the longest -running 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:14.480 and most successful concert duo in pop music 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:16.660 history. They played stadiums across the globe. 00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:19.160 But his ultimate legacy became tied to one single 00:23:19.160 --> 00:23:22.740 iconic venue. Madison Square Garden. In 2013, 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:25.420 he got a status no other musician has ever had. 00:23:25.579 --> 00:23:28.339 He was named MSG's first ever music franchise, 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:30.720 putting him on the same level as the Knicks and 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:33.900 the Rangers. And that led directly to his indefinite 00:23:33.900 --> 00:23:36.500 monthly residency at the Garden starting in 2014. 00:23:36.779 --> 00:23:40.059 That unprecedented run has made him the undisputed 00:23:40.059 --> 00:23:42.400 king of that arena. He just keeps breaking his 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:45.240 own records. The number of performances is insane. 00:23:45.420 --> 00:23:48.079 New York State even declared July 18th, 2018 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:51.380 as Billy Joel Day to mark his 100th show there. 00:23:51.900 --> 00:23:53.940 And this incredible residency is finally set 00:23:53.940 --> 00:23:58.559 to end in July 2024 with his 150th lifetime performance 00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:01.180 at the Garden. Just staggering. And it really 00:24:01.180 --> 00:24:03.359 cements his identity as the ultimate New York 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:05.900 artist. Our sources confirm he's the only artist 00:24:05.900 --> 00:24:08.660 to have played Yankee, Shea, and Giant Stadiums, 00:24:08.660 --> 00:24:11.240 plus MSG and Nassau Coliseum. He's conquered 00:24:11.240 --> 00:24:13.519 every major New York venue. And after he walked 00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:15.819 away from pop writing in 93, he finally fulfilled 00:24:15.819 --> 00:24:18.609 the promise of his classical training. In 2001, 00:24:18.769 --> 00:24:20.509 he returned to the music he'd spent his teenage 00:24:20.509 --> 00:24:23.309 years resisting. He released a classical album, 00:24:23.529 --> 00:24:26.029 Fantasies and Delusions. And this wasn't just 00:24:26.029 --> 00:24:28.390 some vanity project. This was a serious, successful 00:24:28.390 --> 00:24:31.150 album in a totally different genre. It was performed 00:24:31.150 --> 00:24:33.609 by the pianist Yung Ki Joo, and it went to number 00:24:33.609 --> 00:24:35.509 one on the classical charts. It really showed 00:24:35.509 --> 00:24:37.930 the depth of his formal musical knowledge. These 00:24:37.930 --> 00:24:41.130 are serious compositions. He often uses them 00:24:41.130 --> 00:24:43.970 as instrumental breaks in his live shows, and 00:24:43.970 --> 00:24:46.430 they form the musical backbone of the hit Broadway 00:24:46.430 --> 00:24:49.269 musical, Moving Out. It's the ultimate paradox. 00:24:50.049 --> 00:24:52.789 The high school dropout, who got famous for pop 00:24:52.789 --> 00:24:55.809 tunes, retires to pursue the classical discipline 00:24:55.809 --> 00:24:58.210 he was forced to learn as a kid. He still had 00:24:58.210 --> 00:25:00.509 a few notable one -off singles during this retirement 00:25:00.509 --> 00:25:04.289 period. In 2007, he wrote Christmas in Fallujah 00:25:04.289 --> 00:25:06.450 after reading letters from soldiers in Iraq. 00:25:06.750 --> 00:25:08.990 But he felt it should be sung by someone closer 00:25:08.990 --> 00:25:11.130 to a soldier's age, so Cass Dillon performed 00:25:11.130 --> 00:25:13.569 the studio version. The humanitarian side again, 00:25:13.690 --> 00:25:16.009 connecting with the working people and soldiers. 00:25:16.250 --> 00:25:18.920 Exactly. And then... After decades of saying 00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:21.700 he was done with pop, he surprises everyone in 00:25:21.700 --> 00:25:24.740 2024. He releases Turn the Lights Back On, his 00:25:24.740 --> 00:25:27.420 first new pop single in years. And it charted 00:25:27.420 --> 00:25:29.740 immediately. It just proves that even after three 00:25:29.740 --> 00:25:32.039 decades, the piano man can still command the 00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:34.420 public's attention with new material. Outside 00:25:34.420 --> 00:25:36.480 of music, he also diversified his interests, 00:25:36.660 --> 00:25:39.220 often coming back to his Long Island roots. He's 00:25:39.220 --> 00:25:41.680 always loved boats, so in 1996 he formed the 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:44.990 Long Island Boat Company. And in 2010, he opened 00:25:44.990 --> 00:25:48.529 20th Century Cycles, a vintage motorcycle customization 00:25:48.529 --> 00:25:52.690 shop and museum, indulging that passion for mechanics 00:25:52.690 --> 00:25:55.029 you hear in his songs. His personal life continued 00:25:55.029 --> 00:25:57.029 to evolve, too. He's still good friends with 00:25:57.029 --> 00:25:59.210 his former wives, including Christie Brinkley. 00:25:59.309 --> 00:26:01.970 Right. She attended his third wedding. He's godfather 00:26:01.970 --> 00:26:04.630 to her two youngest kids. He's had four wives, 00:26:04.849 --> 00:26:07.329 Elizabeth Weber, Christie Brinkley, Katie Lee, 00:26:07.450 --> 00:26:10.190 and his current wife, Alexis Roderick, whom he 00:26:10.190 --> 00:26:13.200 married in 2015. Governor Andrew Cuomo. officiated 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:15.359 that wedding. And with Alexis, he has two young 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:18.079 daughters, Della Rose and Remy Ann. So it's a 00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:20.640 calmer domestic picture now. He lives mostly 00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:22.680 in Florida, but still has that strong tie to 00:26:22.680 --> 00:26:24.519 Long Island. We should also touch on the serious 00:26:24.519 --> 00:26:28.119 health news from our sources. In May 2025, Joel 00:26:28.119 --> 00:26:30.220 had to cancel several shows after being diagnosed 00:26:30.220 --> 00:26:32.869 with normal pressure hydrocephalus. Which is 00:26:32.869 --> 00:26:34.809 a condition that can affect your balance, vision 00:26:34.809 --> 00:26:37.349 and hearing. And the public reaction was immediately 00:26:37.349 --> 00:26:40.069 one of concern given his age and history. But 00:26:40.069 --> 00:26:42.750 by July 2025, he gave a reassuring update, right? 00:26:42.869 --> 00:26:44.849 He did. He said he was improving and that the 00:26:44.849 --> 00:26:47.309 condition was treatable. It's just another example 00:26:47.309 --> 00:26:49.190 of the resilience we've seen from him his whole 00:26:49.190 --> 00:26:51.710 life. And this later period has been marked by 00:26:51.710 --> 00:26:55.309 huge formal recognition. Beyond the sales numbers, 00:26:55.529 --> 00:26:58.710 he got the Grammy Legend Award in 91. The Kennedy 00:26:58.710 --> 00:27:01.869 Center Honors in 2013. And the prestigious Gershwin 00:27:01.869 --> 00:27:04.710 Prize for Popular Song in 2014. And this is where 00:27:04.710 --> 00:27:06.750 it all comes full circle, in the most ironic 00:27:06.750 --> 00:27:10.950 way. He has multiple honorary doctorates. A huge 00:27:10.950 --> 00:27:13.109 turnaround for the guy who famously dropped out 00:27:13.109 --> 00:27:14.910 of high school, telling them he was going straight 00:27:14.910 --> 00:27:17.450 to Columbia Records. The system he rejected eventually 00:27:17.450 --> 00:27:20.369 came back to crown him. And of course, the album 00:27:20.369 --> 00:27:23.309 that started it all, The Stranger. was ranked 00:27:23.309 --> 00:27:25.630 the 70th greatest album of all time by Rolling 00:27:25.630 --> 00:27:27.630 Stone. So when you connect it all, you see the 00:27:27.630 --> 00:27:31.029 full arc. Escaping his father's trauma, rebelling 00:27:31.029 --> 00:27:33.690 against formal education, finding his voice in 00:27:33.690 --> 00:27:36.589 LA, suffering massive fraud, and then retiring 00:27:36.589 --> 00:27:38.950 from pop to become the ultimate New York touring 00:27:38.950 --> 00:27:42.089 institution. So what does this all mean? The 00:27:42.089 --> 00:27:45.029 central paradox of his career is just so striking. 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:48.359 He became a global star by fighting against critics 00:27:48.359 --> 00:27:51.359 who tried to box him in. He released Glass Houses 00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:53.660 just to prove he could rock harder than the Soft 00:27:53.660 --> 00:27:56.759 Balladier label. And yet, his most commercially 00:27:56.759 --> 00:27:59.400 successful work, that Greatest Hits album that 00:27:59.400 --> 00:28:03.279 sold 23 million units, is mostly made up of the 00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:05.839 very pop and soft ballad songs he spent years 00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:08.630 trying to run away from. His legacy is defined 00:28:08.630 --> 00:28:11.609 by the material he almost rejected. It's the 00:28:11.609 --> 00:28:13.849 ultimate struggle between the artist's ambition 00:28:13.849 --> 00:28:16.789 and the audience's desire. He wanted to be the 00:28:16.789 --> 00:28:19.549 serious commentator of the nylon curtain, but 00:28:19.549 --> 00:28:22.049 the world fell in love with a nostalgic storyteller 00:28:22.049 --> 00:28:24.809 of the longest time and just the way you are. 00:28:24.930 --> 00:28:27.569 Here's where it gets really interesting. is the 00:28:27.569 --> 00:28:30.190 ultimate paradox of Billy Joel, that his greatest 00:28:30.190 --> 00:28:32.430 legacy came from the pop material he wrote before 00:28:32.430 --> 00:28:34.490 he even got the high school diploma he rejected. 00:28:34.670 --> 00:28:37.269 Yet he later retired from that same pop music 00:28:37.269 --> 00:28:39.650 to pursue the classical composition that he rejected 00:28:39.650 --> 00:28:42.069 as a child. He ran away from discipline and then 00:28:42.069 --> 00:28:44.569 returned to it decades later. after he had already 00:28:44.569 --> 00:28:47.289 redefined what popular music could be. He rejected 00:28:47.289 --> 00:28:50.109 the serious, formal path of his father for this 00:28:50.109 --> 00:28:52.809 rebellious, working -class rock scene. And then, 00:28:52.829 --> 00:28:54.650 after dominating the charts for two decades, 00:28:54.930 --> 00:28:58.210 he returns to classical composition. The very 00:28:58.210 --> 00:29:00.250 formality he tried to leave behind in Hicksville, 00:29:00.349 --> 00:29:02.869 it's for his own artistic closure. The circle 00:29:02.869 --> 00:29:05.579 is complete. So if you want to explore the tension 00:29:05.579 --> 00:29:07.559 between these two completely different sides 00:29:07.559 --> 00:29:10.059 of the piano man, take a deep dive into the experimental 00:29:10.059 --> 00:29:13.279 1982 album The Nylon Curtain for his serious 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:16.440 lyrical ambition. Or check out Fantasies and 00:29:16.440 --> 00:29:19.140 Delusions from 2001 to hear the lesser -known, 00:29:19.220 --> 00:29:21.519 formally trained musical mind of the classical 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:24.420 composer he ultimately became. We hope this deep 00:29:24.420 --> 00:29:26.700 dive helps you appreciate the full, turbulent, 00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:28.539 and triumphant journey of Billy Joel.