American musician, vocalist and composer. He was the first to visit the Soviet Union after the fall of the Iron Curtain; concerts took place in Leningrad and Moscow.
Biography
William Joel was born in 1949 in the Bronx. When the boy was one year old, his family moved to Long Island, a suburb of New York. His father worked as a pianist, performed classical music, and also had his own business.
The boy's mother insisted that he began to study music from early childhood. Billy studied the basics of classical piano and organ playing.
In adolescence, he is fond of boxing. Participates in more than twenty fights in the amateur league, but stops participating in the competition after a nose injury.
He attended school in Hickswell, but did not finish his studies, as he was forced to help his mother make ends meet. Joel was unable to pass his English exams because he played in the bar all night in front of him, earning money. In 1992, at the age of 43, he nevertheless passed the exams and received a high school diploma.
Career
At the beginning of 1965 he began to collaborate with the Echoes group, recording several songs with them as a keyboard player. In 1967 he left the band and joined the Hassles group. The group recorded two albums and several singles, none of the compositions were commercial success.
In 1971 he recorded his first solo album, "Cold Spring Harbor", due to an unsuccessful arrangement, the album failed at the box office. The album was re-recorded in 1983.
In 1973 his second album, Piano Man, was released. The composition of the same name from this album becomes Joel's calling card, he performed it at each subsequent concert.
In 1974 his album Streetlife Serenade was released, which had little success.
In 1977 he recorded his most famous album, The Stranger. It has an incredible commercial success, four songs from this album hit the top lines of the American and European charts.
In 1983 he released the album "An Innocent Man", the composition of the same name turned out to be the most successful. The song hit the first lines of the British and American charts several times.
In 1986, Billy Joel begins a tour of the Soviet Union. He became the first American rock musician to come to concerts, and his performance was a historic event.
In the nineties and two thousand, he continued to tour around the world, recording two not particularly successful albums.
Personal life
In 1970 he starts a relationship with the wife of his close friend and colleague John Small, Elizabeth. After a while he marries her. The couple broke up in 1992.
In 1985 he marries Christine Brinkley, the first child of Billy Joel, the daughter of Alex Ray, is born in the marriage. The couple divorced in 1994.
The third wife of the singer was Kathy Lee, the wedding took place in 2004. Separated in 2009.
In 2015 he will marry for the fourth time. In a marriage with Alexis Roderick, two children were born.
