Billy Joel Tickets

About Billy Joel

A Stranger

Born in 1949, Joel started piano lessons at an early age, albeit reluctantly. Nevertheless, music took a hold of him, and despite being an active student, he failed to graduate from high school due to his burgeoning musical obsession. In 1971 he recorded his debut album Cold Spring Harbour, although it was largely ignored at the time by the public. Undeterred, his follow-up album Piano Man (1973) began the hot streak of Billy Joel’s success, spawning the single of the same title that would become his signature tune. From thereon in, Joel went to greater and greater heights. 1977 LP The Stranger saw him hit the stratosphere: the album went number two on the US charts and was certified platinum ten times. It has since been cemented as a classic, reaching number 70 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of all Time, a rare critical score for an artist who, despite his popularity with audiences, has often struggled to impress critics.

We Didn’t Start the Fire

The years after that saw sustained success from the Piano Man. The seven albums Joel released from 1978 until 1993 all went platinum in the US, and 1989 saw the release of perhaps his most well-known song “We Didn’t Start the Fire”. Outside of an album of classical piano works released in 2001, Fantasies & Delusions, Joel hasn’t recorded an album of new music since 1993’s River of Dreams, becoming semi-retired as a songwriter. However, as a musician, singer, and all-round entertainer, he is still very much in the business, touring regularly in the new millennium.