Billy Joel

The life behind the music

Billy Joel grew up on Long Island and built his musical life around the piano, local bands and a sharp ear for the voices around him. Before his best-known albums, there were the Echoes, the Hassles, Attila and the difficult start of Cold Spring Harbor. A period playing a Los Angeles piano bar helped provide the setting for Piano Man, the 1973 recording that became his signature introduction.

His records move well beyond that barroom image. The Stranger turns everyday observation into vivid pop drama; 52nd Street brings a jazz-inflected palette; Glass Houses emphasises a leaner rock attack; and An Innocent Man revisits the sounds of earlier pop through a 1980s recording. Follow the characters as closely as the choruses: Joel’s songs often find their emotional centre in the distance between what someone wants and what everyday life allows.

A few turning points

Five ways into the music