May 9 - Billy Joel

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On this day, in 1949, William Martin Joel was born in the Bronx, New York. When he was two, Billy's family moved to Long Island, settling in the town of Hicksville (insert your own joke here) near Oyster Bay (the origin town mentioned in the song The Ballad of Billy the Kid for obvious reasons). When his parents divorced in 1957, his father, who'd emigrated to America to escape Nazi Germany, returned to Europe. Billy and his mother remained in Hicksville, where his mother forced him to take piano lessons he didn't really want to bother with. Thankfully, mom won that battle. He took up a second battle by learning how to box as a teenager, mostly for self defense. He actually became a Golden Gloves contender, winning 22 out of 24 bouts. When his nose was broken in his last fight, he decided that singing might be safer and laid down his gloves.

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Throughout his high school years, Billy was frequently absent from class, but not because he was deliberately skipping. Those piano lessons were already paying off. Billy was playing in piano bars, earning money to help his mom make ends meet, but staying out too late to make it to school the next day. When it came time to graduate, Billy didn't have enough credits, even though he was an above average student when he showed up. Rather than spin his wheels in summer school, he said "If I'm not going to Columbia University, I'm going to Columbia Records," and began his singing career in earnest. Twenty-five years later, Billy would write some essays (the credit he was missing was in English), submit them to the school board and finally earn his high school diploma. Of course, by then he didn't need it to find decent employment, it was just a worthwhile life goal.

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Billy had joined his first band when he was 16, the Echos, a British invasion cover group. The Echos changed their name a few times before Billy left in 1967 to join The Hassles. The new group released two albums but made no money. Billy and Hassles drummer Jon Small formed their own group in 1969, Attila. The duo was short lived, releasing a single album that made the list of AllMusic's worst rock albums ever, breaking up when Billy had an affair with Small's wife, Elizabeth. She ended up walking away from both men (although she would later become Billy's first wife and then, even later, his business manager), leaving Billy bandless and dateless. In a deep depression, he attempted suicide by drinking a bottle of furniture polish. Ironically, it was Jon who rushed him to the hospital and saved his life.

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Following his recovery, Billy wrote and released his first solo album, Cold Spring Harbor. A mistake in the mastering process caused the record to be played at a slightly off speed, which resulted in less than stellar sales. He did a tour anyways, opening for the likes of The Beach Boys and Badfinger, and his popularity slowly grew. A concert recording of Captain Jack became enough of a hit along the East Coast to bring him to the attention of Columbia Records. In the summer of 1972, five years after he said he would, he got a record deal with them. He released three albums over the next five years, producing a few modest hits, including his staples Piano Man and New York State of Mind.

In 1977, Billy released The Stranger and became a bona fide rock star. The album reached number two on the charts, contained four top 40 hits, won Grammy Awards for Album and Song of the Year and became Columbia's top selling record ever. His next album, 52nd Street, hit number one and yielded three Grammy Awards. 1980's Glass Houses also hit number one, gave Billy his first number one song, It's Still Rock and Roll To Me, and won another Grammy. Over the next six years, he released three more albums, did a worldwide tour culminating in a concert in Russia, participated in the charity mega-hit We Are the World, got divorced and remarried, this time to Christie Brinkley, and spent time recovering from a motorcycle accident that could have permanently injured his hands (luckily, it did not). You can see why people find the life of rock stars to be exciting.

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Billy became part of the Disney family in 1988, in that period just after the studio hit rock bottom with The Black Cauldron, but before the Disney Renaissance found any traction. As the voice of Dodger in Oliver and Company, Billy gave a rare turn as an actor. When the film's producers decided to move the action of Dickens' Oliver Twist to New York, they looked for New Yorkers to fill their cast. Once they thought of Billy, they sent him some dialog and he actually auditioned over the phone. The added bonus of course was that he could sing as well and performed Why Should I Worry for the movie. In a later interview, when asked why he did Oliver, he said he'd just had a daughter (Alexa Ray Joel with Christie Brinkley) and he knew a Disney movie would be something she could relate to instantly, unlike his music.

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Since Oliver, Billy has only released two more pop albums (both of which reached number one on the charts) and one of classical compositions. Most of his time has been spent playing sold out concerts in stadiums around the world, Madison Square Gardens in particular. He played his 100th Concert at the venerable New York arena last July. He also started a boating company in 1996 and a custom motorcycle shop in 2010, both located on Long Island. He's also been divorced twice more, married twice more and had two more daughters. With little signs of slowing down (will he reach 200 performances at MSG?) the 70 year old rocker seems to be enjoying life to the fullest. Happy Birthday, Billy!