The Daily Telegraph from London, Greater London, England • 33

the daily telegraph FRIDAY OCTOBER 25 20 1 3 33 Billy Jod stepped on to the stage ot Long Island's Paramount Theatre last week feeling rather nervous "1 was wondering if I was going to he any good" he admits I still do this?" It was an understandable concern it is 20 years since Joel's last pop record and 1 1 since he headlined in his native Long Island hut unnecessary: the show a warm-up for his imminent sold out British tour was ecstatically received played half a dozen songs that we rarely play and some that we have never performed" Joel tells me down the line from his Long Island home have to mix it up only singing hits becomes really boring" It is an enviable problem to have Billy Joel has sold more than 150 million albums his greatest hits double album alone has shifted 23 million copies and he is the third-biggest-selling solo artist of all time in the United States bigger than Bruce Springsteen Madonna and Michael Jackson Which is pretty good going for someone who says he has a horrible piano-playing technique and is not a real rock star Billy Joel was born 04 years ago in the Bronx to an English Jewish mother and a German Jewish father who had lied the Nazis Joel's father was a classically trained pianist and Billy had lessons from the age ol six And then he saw the Beatles was 15 when I saw them and I remember thinking they looked like me and my he recalls looked like working-class stil ts they didn't look like they were fabricated in I lollywood" Joel began playing in local bands before releasing a debut album in 1971 that was indifferently received before 1973's Piano Man provided his signature song and put him on the road towards superstardom During the next two decades he released a string of hit singles and albums winning Grammy awards for album of the year in 1978 and song of the year and record of the year for Just the Way You A rc Lie dated Elle Macpherson and married another supermodel Christie Brinkley and in 1987 he became the first American rock star to play Russia since the building of i the Berlin Wall Lie seemed to have it all hut the one thing that eluded him was critical acclaim Billy Joel has never been cool One critic referred to him as sort of popular artist who makes elitism seem not only defensible but necessary" I was first starting out 1 was considered hip for about two says Joel immediately after that I was naff that the word?" How does he feel about that now? "It's a Very superficial way to judge he says to be cool have a whole lot of substance to it That Joel is not accorded the criticil respect accorded to peers such as Springsteen and Neil Young seems unfair: anyone whose back catalogue includes Piano Man Movin' Out (Anthony's Sony) and Only The Good sensationalist insight into his life want to know about your private life your girlfriend your habits: 'None of your he tells me feel like I gave enough away by writing the music I opened up my soul what else do you want?" He describes starting to drink heavily in 2001 was in New York on 911 and it had a devastating impact on he says hit me like a ton of bricks 1 went into a deep depression and started drinking I lost faith in So what restored his faith I ask girl who was shot by the Taliban Malala he says is the 2 antidote We need people like that 1 get inspired by people like Pop no longer inspires Billy Joel He lives quietly with his girlfriend and 5 the 100 motorbikes that he keeps in his gai'age People mostly leave him alone He is still writing music but it is abstract and classical and it may never at be recorded or released "Just because I can put out albums and the record company would release them and people would buy them that don't mean I he says When ask him what he has listened to lately he says Edward Elgar and Benjamin Britten He know who Arcade Fire are At the age of 64 Joel is embracing the music he grew up listening before rock roll entered his life took classical lessons until I was 16 and then I stopped" he says like I fell in love with rock 'n' roll I met this girl with mascara and fishnet stockings and cigarettes and she dragged me away with her for a good 45 years and now all of a sudden I have discovered the girl next door again and she looks pretty Is it hard for a rock star to return to miss making music with other musicians': Piano Billy Joel is the third-biggest-selling solo artist of all time in the United States Above right on stage in 1 984 Man remains as proudly unhip as ever As he prepares to embark on a sold-out British tour Billy Joel tells Sarfraz Manzoor why he's dreading singing Girl' civilian life? "I sit around saying: I miss the adulation I want the he says what I do miss is making music with other musicians" Which is why returned to playing live had both hips replaced recently that was literally a pain in the he says "and so it's been three years since I have done anything I want to do these dates and see how it feels to get back in the Billy Joel begins his sold-out British tour in Manchester on October 29 his second ex-wife Brinkley Joel has talked in the past about how he took up music to compensate for his looks which are more roadie than rock star "I have a face made for radio" he tells me I care that not a handsome guy I want my girlfriend to be good-looking not As a strategy this has had mixed results: ioel has been married and divorced three times His last wife in conversation he uses and rather than names was of writing in the same format: it be too long got to be played on the radio a box and after a while that box becomes a Joel is however stepping inside the box for a short British tour but there is one song he is not looking forward to singing "1 am dreading doing Uptown Girl" he admits going to destroy my throat Once I do that song really hard to sing anything after The video for Uptown Girl featured Die Yoiuiy ought not to need defending Despite having written a boatload of songs that are now timeless standards Joel became disillusioned with pop music did a few tours with Elton he says "and the show never changed it was basically the two of us doing our greatest hits It became stale and The craft of songwriting also began to lose its appeal got bored writing popular he says just got tired 33 years younger than him and his current girlfriend is 32 years his junior There was speculation that it was the emotional fall-out from his divorces that led to a spate of car crashes between 2002 and 2010 which he claimed were due to wet driving conditions but which some attributed to drinking Joel is a private man who resents intrusions into his personal life he recently returned the advance he had been given to write an autobiography when he realised his publishers were hoping for a richersouNos BIGGEST BRANDS BEST PRICES EXPERT ADVICE! 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