William (Billy) Martin Joel was born on May 9, 1949 in the Bronx, New York. He grew up in Levittown and went to high school in nearby Hicksville. He began taking piano lessons at age 4, but as a teenager, got involved in boxing and street gangs. After 22 bouts in the ring, he returned to his roots: the piano. He idolized the Beatles, Paul McCartney in particular, and stated that he was motivated to become a musician after seeing the Beatles perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
Billy’s first band was “The Echoes,” they performed cover versions of songs by the Beatles, Rolling Stones and the Kinks. Record producer, Shadow Morton, discovered Billy and arranged for him to play on the record, 'The Leader of the Pack', with the “Shangri-Las” in late 1964, but he was never paid for this because he wasn’t a union member.
The “Echoes” changed their name to the “Lost Souls” and then to the “Emerald Lords” before settling on the “Hassles” in 1967. By now they had grown into a five-piece band with Billy playing the keyboards. They were signed by United Artists a year later and released their first, self-titled, album containing some covers and some original songs written by Billy. They released two singles from the album, “Every Step I Take, Every Move I Make” and “You've Got Me Hummin,'' both of which failed miserably. “Hour of the Wolf” was The Hassles' second album which contained all original songs. Not long after, the Hassles disbanded. Billy and Jon Small, one of the other members of the Hassles, went on to form a hard-rock band called “Attila,” and released one self-titled album.
Billy worked as a rock journalist for “Changes,” and also recorded a commercial for “Bachmann's Pretzels” with legend Chubby Checker, before releasing his first solo album entitled “Cold Spring Harbor,” in 1971 through Columbia, which contained all original songs. Billy was disappointed and embarrassed by the album because it had been mastered at the wrong speed making his voice sound unusually high-pitched, although this album would eventually be re-mastered at the correct speed and re-released in 1981.
After “Cold Spring Harbor,” Billy went on the road. He worked supporting the “J. Geils Band” and “Badfinger.” Eventually he moved to California, playing in piano bars under the stage name “Bill Martin.” It was this experience that inspired the phenomenal single “Piano Man,” which became what fans would describe as his signature song.
In 1973, Columbia released the album “Piano Man.” This marked the beginning of a great career. “Streetlife Serenade” and “Turnstiles” followed in 1974 and 1976. In 1977, the album “The Stranger” was released and contained the song “Just the Way You Are,” which won the 1978 Grammy for Song of the Year. The next year “52nd Street” was released and proved Billy adept in another style, jazz. “52nd Street” won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
The rock album “Glass Houses” was released in 1980 and won the American Music Award for Album of the Year. The album “Songs in The Attic” followed. “Songs In The Attic” gave new life to some previously released songs that Billy felt hadn’t been given a chance to catch on. In 1982 “The Nylon Curtain" was released and received the Grammy Nomination for Album of the Year. This was followed by “An Innocent Man,” in 1984. “An Innocent Man” was a tribute to 60’s style rock-and roll, and was nominated Grammy’s Album of the Year.
In 1985, the “Greatest Hits Volumes I & II” was released, and contained two new songs: "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" and "The Night Is Still Young." In March of 1985, he married super-model, Christie Brinkley and on the 29th of December, they had a daughter, Alexa Ray.
In 1986, “The Bridge” was released, which included songs performed with Ray Charles and Cyndi Lauper. Billy took this album on a landmark tour of the U.S.S.R., giving birth to the live album, “Kohuept” (Russian for 'concert').
1989 saw the release of the album “Storm Front,” which contained the phenomenal single “We didn’t start the fire,” which has been used as a study tool by history teachers all over the country. “Storm Front” received the 1989 Grammy Nomination for Album of the Year, and “We Didn’t Start The Fire” received the 1989 Grammy Nomination for Song of the Year.
In 1989 and 1990, Billy received the Grammy Nominations for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and in 1990 he was nominated for the Grammy’s Producer of the Year and received Grammy’s Legend Award. In 1992 Billy was inducted into Songwriters' Hall of Fame, and received Country Music Association Awards Nomination for Songwriter of the Year for “Shameless.”
“River of Dreams” was released in 1993, and his wife Christy Brinkley did the cover art . “River of Dreams" resulted in nominations for Grammy’s Album of the Year, Grammy’s Record of the Year, Grammy’s Song of the Year, and he received the 1994 Grammy Nomination for Best Male Pop Vocalist and he received the 1994 Billboard Century Music Award.
In addition to these solo albums, Billy has released singles for movie soundtracks and played on other artists' albums.
Since “River of Dreams,” Billy divorced Christie Brinkley, released Greatest Hits Volume III, and he has also toured with fellow singer/songwriter, Elton John.
Billy has recently released a special "boxed set" consisting of 4 Cd's: Greatest Hits Volume I, Greatest Hits Volume II, Greatest Hits Volume III and a special 4th CD of interviews and some unreleased stuff.