Born in the Bronx, Joel was raised in the Long Island suburb of Hicksville, where he learned to play piano as a child. As he approached his adolescence, Joel started to rebel, joining teenage street gangs and boxing as welterweight. He fought a total of 22 fights as a teenager, and during one of the fights, he broke his nose. For the early years of his adolescence, he divided his time between studying piano and fighting. Upon seeing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, Joel decided to pursue a full-time musical career and set about finding a local Long Island band to join. Eventually, he found the Echoes, a group that specialized in British Invasion covers. The Echoes became a popular New York attraction, convincing him to quit high school to become a professional musician.
Musik
1971 Cold Spring Harbor
1973 Piano Man
1974 Street Life
1976 Turnstiles
1977 Stranger
1978 52nd Street
1980 Glass Houses
1981 Songs in the Attic
1982 Nylon Curtain
1983 Innocent Man
1986 Bridge
1987 Live in Leningrad
1989 Storm Front
1993 River of Dreams
2000 2000 Years: (The Millennium Consert)
2000 2000 Years: The Millennium Concert (Japan Bonus Track)
2000 Ultimate Collection (Japan Bonus Track)
2001 Fantasies & Delusions
2002 Stranger (Japan CD)
2004 Piano Man (Vinyl Classics)
2006 12 Gardens Live
2006 Live in Madison Square Garden NYC