50+YEARS OF BILLY JOEL

It was 50 years ago on November 2, 1973, when “Piano Man”— the song that introduced many of us to singer-songwriter Billy

Joel—was released. Fifty years ago! To celebrate, Columbia Record and Legacy Recordings are releasing a deluxe set, Billy Joel—The Vinyl Collection, Vol. 2. ($300, amazon.com). The set includes a 60-plus page booklet featuring Joel’s personal observations about each album, rare photos and memorabilia from the era. And the songs! Joel, who is now 74, became a household name in the MTV era with some of his biggest chart-smashing hits and most all-time beloved songs, and they’re all here, including 2Allentown,2 2Uptown

Girl,2 2A Matter of Trust,2 2Baby Grand2 (his duet with Ray Charles), plus his three Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping hits, 2We Didn't Start the Fire,2 2Tell Her About It2 and 2It's Still Rock and Roll to Me.2

In honor of Joel’s 50-plus years of entertaining us, we dipped into the Parade Vault to revisit our 2018 cover story with the man who always puts us “in the mood for a melody.”

JULY 15, 2018

—Anne Krueger

When Parade spoke with Billy Joel at his motorcycle gallery, 20th Century Cycles, in 2018, it was on the eve of his 100th performance at Madison Square Garden (now he is up to 137, with nine more planned before he concludes his residency in 2024). When musing about his success, Joel said, “I’m an unlikely candidate for a rock star. I don’t look like a rock star. I’m like the eternal underdog. In my lyrics, there’s a lot of acknowledgment that I’m a screw-up—I’m human. I’m as lost as you are;

Iđð íøö÷ ÷õüìñê ÷ò Ĥñç ðü úäü. I êøèöö óèòóïè ïìîè ÷ëä÷.Ĕ

Joel relayed the story of missing school because he was working nights, playing piano in a bar when he was 14: “At the end of my senior year my high school said, ‘You don’t have enough credits to graduate.’ So, I said, ‘To hell with it. I’m not going to Columbia University; I’m êòìñê ÷ò Còïøðåìä Rèaeòõçö.đĔ