But back in Hicksville, Long Island, Joel’s mother scraped together the funds for her son to take piano lessons lessons, which have proved so integral to his later success.īilly Joel on the set of the “River of Dreams” music video in 1993. After Joel’s parents divorced when he was eight, his father moved to Europe and later remarried. But Billy Joel’s upbringing was not so well-to-do. In addition to actually studying music, he played the piano rather than the guitar, which has always been perceived as a more “rich kid” instrument because of the cost of the lessons.
“To them, you’re supposed to be a diamond in the rough and polish yourself,” Joel commented in a July interview with New York Magazine. Critics often branded Billy Joel in his early years as elitist or inauthentic because of his musical studies. His father was a classical pianist, and his half-brother is a well-known conductor in Vienna. (His parents met in a college production of the operetta, “The Pirates of Penzance”). He is classically trained and comes from an extensive musical heritage. It is no accident that Billy Joel is so technically talented. The cover of 1977’s The Stranger, on which “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” appears. Playing my favorite song, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” requires the same level of focus and commitment as any Beethoven Sonata, and it is a song equal in its musical complexity. In a recent interview with CBS surrounding his 100 th show at Madison Square Garden, he invoked Neil Diamond, who once said, “I’ve forgiven myself for not being Beethoven.” Joel also views Beethoven as the pinnacle of musical talent, but his issue is the opposite of Diamond’s: “That’s my problem: I haven’t forgiven myself for not being Beethoven.” As a fellow pianist, I have taken a stab at a few Billy Joel songs from the scores of his music my dad has given me as gifts over the years. Joel, however, is famously self-deprecating. The technical prowess of his piano playing is unmatched by few other pop or rock artists. The cover of the 1989 single for “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” Image courtesy of .Īs I have gotten older, I have begun to appreciate Billy Joel even more.
0 kommentar(er)
