2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
Billy Joel's creative career can be divided into two periods. For the first 22 years he actively recorded albums, and after that he stopped working in the studio and began touring extensively to bring his music to listeners all over the world.
The album River of dreams was his last studio recording. The singer has never regretted his decision as he believes Billy Joel's best songs have already been made.
Biography
Billy Joel is an American singer and songwriter. He is also a virtuoso pianist, which is why many fans call him "Piano man". The musician was born on May 9, 1949 in the state of New York, where he spent his childhood. His father was a classical pianist. Billy Joel's half-brother, Alexander, also became a musician. From 2001 to 2014 he was the chief conductor of an opera house in one of the cities in Germany.
The boy started playing the piano at an early age at the urging of his mother. But at that time he dreamed more of a career as an organist.
As a teenager, he also played sports, winning 22 competitions. Joel left the sportafter his nose was broken once.
Young man dropped out of school because he was forced to play the piano in a bar to help his mother make ends meet after his father left the family.
Billy becomes a rock star
In his youth, Billy Joel liked bands like the Beatles and The Drifters. They had a strong influence on his own musical style. Beautiful melodies and texts dedicated to the problems of everyday life are the hallmarks of his work. After seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan TV show, Billy Joel was so enraptured by the performance that he decided to write music in this style.
In the 1960s, he was involved in several bands that did not achieve serious success. In 1972, the musician signed a contract with a record company to create his first solo album.
But the real success came to him only a few years after that.
Best Album
Even the harshest critics admit that The Stranger is undeniably one of the most interesting albums of the 20th century.
After listening to the record, any music lover will admit that Billy Joel is a real superstar. Producer Phil Ramone made a great contribution to the creation of this masterpiece. Billy collaborated with him for the first time and they immediately got along great. The singer says: "Before, I did not know that the producer is capable of this! He makes the artist believe in his own strength." The album instantly took off to the first lines of the charts around the world.
SongsBilly Joel's Just the way you are and Only the good die young in 1977-1978 sounded everywhere. After that, the artist recorded many great albums, but none of them became as popular as Stranger.
Brilliant idea
The huge success of this album changed Billy Joel's life. But neither the singer nor the producer wanted to constantly record the same type of discs. Billy Joel put it this way: "We were going to do something completely different by making a new record. Phil Ramone came up with the idea of having jazz musicians on the record. It was a great find." The new disc is called 52`nd street.
On its cover, the musician was depicted with a trumpet, which is a nod to the jazz style of this disc.
The album wasn't as successful as its predecessor, but Billy Joel's "Honesty" became one of the most radio-played hits of the 20th century. And the song My life found new life two years later, when it was used as the main theme song of the series "Bosom Friends" with Tom Hanks. These songs are usually found on compilations with titles like "Billy Joel. The Ultimate".
From jazz to rock
Billy Joel's next record was in the style of rock music. The listener guesses the mood of the entire album from the very first sounds. The composition that opens it begins with the sound of breaking glass, followed by a powerful guitar intro. The album came out in the late 70s. At the time, punk and disco werethe most popular genres of music. Many rock stars then were forgotten. But rock and roll fans remained true to their passion.
So, singer Bob Seager then sang the song Old time rock-n-roll, imbued with a sense of nostalgia. Billy Joel in the Glass houses album also touched on this topic. The song It's still rock n roll to me is about that. Unlike Bob Seeger, the hero of this article is no stranger to new trends in music. He sings: “The New Wave style is another phase of rock and roll. Such music also drives you crazy with its dance rhythms. This is also rock and roll.”
Having stopped working in the studio, Billy devoted himself entirely to live activities.
In the 80s he visited the Soviet Union. A documentary film was made about this tour.
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