Jon Small, drummer and early bandmate of Billy Joel, has passed away

Jon Small, drummer and early bandmate of Billy Joel, passed away on Friday. Joel announced the news in a brief Instagram post, signed off with the words "RIP Jon Lord." His age and cause of death had not been released at the time of publication. A funeral service will be held on Wednesday, September 9, in Great Neck, New York.

Small and Joel met as teenagers on Long Island and grew into best friends. In the 1960s they played together in the Hassles, a psychedelic rock and soul band from New York that released two albums on United Artists. On the second album, Hour of the Wolf from 1969, Joel took over vocal duties from original singer John Dizek. After the Hassles broke up, Small and Joel formed the hard rock duo Attila, whose self titled debut album came out in 1970 on Epic. It was a striking lineup consisting entirely of drums and organ.

Attila fell apart quickly, though, due to a deeply personal crisis. Joel was living with Small and his wife Elizabeth Weber, and fell in love with Weber. In the recent HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes, which takes a thorough look at Joel's early years, both men spoke openly about what had happened. "Elizabeth was very important to me, but I think I was not the guy she hoped I would be," Small said in the documentary. "I kept seeing that Billy was not the same guy. Something was the matter. And Billy one day came up to me, became a little honest, and said to me, 'I'm in love with your wife.' So it was a very devastating thing for me, because these were basically my two best friends." Joel responded with: "I felt very, very guilty about it. They had a child. I felt like a homewrecker. I was just in love with a woman, and I got punched in the nose, which I deserved. Jon was very upset. I was very upset."

The affair had far reaching consequences. Attila definitively fell apart, Joel was thrown out of Small's house, and their friendship seemed finished. The documentary also reveals that Joel felt so guilty he attempted suicide by drinking furniture polish, after which Small drove him to the hospital. This traumatic event is the foundation of the song Tomorrow Is Today from Joel's solo album Cold Spring Harbor, released in 1971. Joel eventually married Weber in 1973, and the marriage lasted until 1982.

Despite everything, Small and Joel eventually found their way back to each other. In the documentary, Small spoke about the reconciliation: "He never really said anything to me. The only practical answer I can give as to why Billy took it so hard was because he loved me that much and that it killed him to hurt me that much. Eventually I forgave him." That renewed friendship led to a fruitful collaboration behind the camera. Small directed several music videos for Joel, including Tell Her About It, Uptown Girl, Keeping the Faith, and the duet video Baby Grand featuring Ray Charles. He was also responsible for the concert films Live From Long Island and Live at Shea Stadium, and in the 1990s received a Grammy nomination for his work on Live at Yankee Stadium.

Small's influence as a video director extended well beyond his work with Joel. He is considered one of the pioneers of the music video genre during the MTV era and directed the iconic video for Walk This Way by Run DMC and Aerosmith. His portfolio also includes work with Whitney Houston, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Kenny Rogers, Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, Blake Shelton, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Van Morrison, and others. Small was inducted into the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. For Dutch music fans following Billy Joel's career, Small's death is a poignant moment. The two men who together laid the foundation for Joel's musical journey are inextricably tied to one of the most talked about chapters of his life, a story that through And So It Goes is now reaching a whole new generation.