Billy Joel

About

Also known as: Billie Joel, Joel, Billy, William Martin Joel

Few artists have a nickname that doubles as a career summary, but calling Billy Joel the Piano Man pretty much nails it. The Long Island singer, songwriter and pianist built one of rock's most consistent catalogues across twelve studio albums between 1971 and 1993, racking up over 160 million records sold worldwide. The 1977 breakthrough The Stranger is the centrepiece of that run, a blockbuster that became Columbia Records' best selling release at the time and delivered classics like "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", "Just the Way You Are" and "Vienna". Joel has three number ones on the Billboard Hot 100, including "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" and "We Didn't Start the Fire", and his 1985 greatest hits collection remains one of the best selling albums in US history. He was among the first Western artists to tour the Soviet Union in 1987, won the Grammy for Album of the Year with 52nd Street, and landed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. After stepping back from pop songwriting in the early nineties, he returned with the 2024 single "Turn the Lights Back On".