Artist - musicians, painters, writers, poets, always seem to have had the most accurate perception of what is really going on around them, not the official version or the popular perception of contemporary life.
Billy Joel
As human beings, we need to know that we are not alone, that we are not crazy or completely out of our minds, that there are other people out there who feel as we do, live as we do, love as we do, who are like us.
Billy Joel
Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.
Billy Joel
For whatever reason, not all people are born with the particular gift of being able to express ourselves through music. And, believe me, it is a gift.
Billy Joel
Have you listened to the radio lately? Have you heard the canned, frozen and processed product being dished up to the world as American popular music today?
Billy Joel
Historically, musicians know what it is like to be outside the norm - walking the high wire without a safety net. Our experience is not so different from those who march to the beat of different drummers.
Billy Joel
I am no longer afraid of becoming lost, because the journey back always reveals something new, and that is ultimately good for the artist.
Billy Joel
I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.
Billy Joel
I can't think of one person I've ever met who didn't like some type of music.
Billy Joel
I consider myself to be an inept pianist, a bad singer, and a merely competent songwriter. What I do, in my opinion, is by no means extraordinary.
Billy Joel
I definitely prefer being a lover than a fighter.
Billy Joel
I did write a letter to the archdiocese who'd banned the song, Only the Good Die Young, asking them to ban my next record.
Billy Joel
I don't care what consequence it brings, I have been a fool for lesser things.
Billy Joel
I don't know why people thought I was retiring.
Billy Joel
I have a theory that the only original things we ever do are mistakes.
Billy Joel
I have been both praised and criticized. The criticism stung, but the praise sometimes bothered me even more. To have received such praise and honors has always been puzzling to me.
Billy Joel
I keep telling people: Don't make me the poster boy for AA because I don't know a lot about sobriety, but I do know a lot about drinking.
Billy Joel
I never said I wasn't going to play any more. I don't know where that came from.
Billy Joel
I really wish I was less of a thinking man and more of a fool not afraid of rejection.
Billy Joel
I sold my house to Jerry Seinfeld.
Billy Joel
I think historically America has been pretty tolerant. It seems when there's a mass influx from one place, that's when it becomes problematic for Americans.
ReplyDeleteBilly Joel
I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music.
Billy Joel
I was drawn to boxing because I got beat up as a kid. I was the kid with the piano books in a New York neighbourhood.
Billy Joel
I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints - the sinners are much more fun.
Billy Joel
I'm a history nut.
Billy Joel
I'm probably writing music now for the same reason as I started writing songs when I was 14 - to meet women.
Billy Joel
I've crashed my car three times.
Billy Joel
If you are not doing what you love, you are wasting your time.
Billy Joel
If you make music for the human needs you have within yourself, then you do it for all humans who need the same things. You enrich humanity with the profound expression of these feelings.
Billy Joel
If you tell kids they can't have something, that's what they want.
Billy Joel
In a way, we are magicians. We are alchemists, sorcerers and wizards. We are a very strange bunch. But there is great fun in being a wizard.
Billy Joel
In an age of incompetence, I've been able to last in this crazy business. I actually know how to play my ax and write a song. That's my job.
Billy Joel
It feels great to have a #1 album.
Billy Joel
It's really hard to make a living as a musician. It's almost impossible.
Billy Joel
Like family, we are tied to each other. This is what all good musicians understand.
Billy Joel
More than art, more than literature, music is universally accessible.
Billy Joel
Most people are satisfied with the junk food being sold as music.
Billy Joel
Musicians now find themselves in the unlikely position of being legitimate. At least the IRS thinks so.
Billy Joel
Musicians want to be the loud voice for so many quiet hearts.
Billy Joel
My songs are like my kids.
Billy Joel
The good ole days weren't always good, and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems.
ReplyDeleteBilly Joel
The whole world loves American movies, blue jeans, jazz and rock and roll. It is probably a better way to get to know our country than by what politicians or airline commercials represent.
Billy Joel
There's a deep-seated paranoia that Americans have about not being Americans or something.
Billy Joel
There's nothing better than good sex. But bad sex? A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is better than bad sex.
Billy Joel
Those who have expressed doubts and misgivings about their ability to live this kind of life shouldn't try, because being a musician is not something you chose to be, it is something you are.
Billy Joel
Twyla Tharp put it together from the material I wrote and recorded over my whole career. I thought it was pretty good, but how objective could I be?
Billy Joel
We are living in a time when American popular music is finally being recognized as one of our most successful exports. The demand is huge.
Billy Joel
When I look at great works of art or listen to inspired music, I sense intimate portraits of the specific times in which they were created.
Billy Joel
When I was 19, I made my first good week's pay as a club musician. It was enough money for me to quit my job at the factory and still pay the rent and buy some food. I freaked.
Billy Joel
When I was a young musician, the only option available to pursue secondary education in music was to attend a classical conservatory.
Billy Joel
Why do musicians give so much time to charitable causes? The most humanitarian cause that we can give our time to is the creation and performance of music itself.
Billy Joel
You want to give people a reason to hate my guts more? I'm making more money.
Billy Joel
You're not the only one who's made mistakes, but they're the only things that you can truly call your own.
Billy Joel
The Making of a Rock 'n Roll Legend
ReplyDeleteSinger-songwriter-pianist-composer-music legend, Billy Joel was born, William Martin Joel, May 9, 1949 in New York's The Bronx.
After taking piano lessons for ten years, Joel formed his first band, at the age of fourteen.
Joel's initial inspiration came in 1964 after seeing The Beattles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show and after seeing James Brown in concert at Harlem's Apollo Theater.
Less than ten years later, Billy released the song Piano Man, which not only became his first Top 40 hit, it became his signature tune in the U.S. For twenty years, it was the final song at all of his concerts.
After his 1973 release of Piano Man Joel went on to sell more than 100 million records around the world.
Among those songs are: Big Shot, You May Be Right, Uptown Girl, New York State of Mind, Only the Good Die Young, Allentown, We Didn't Start the Fire, River of Dreams, and the first dance at my wedding fifteen years ago, Just The Way You Are.
Just The Way You Are was recorded on his album The Stranger. This album became Columbia/CBS's biggest seller at-the-time. In the U.S. alone, it sold over 9 million copies.
In recognition of Joel's phenomenal success and popularity as a pianist and songwriter, he has won six Grammy awards including Grammy Legend Award.
Among the others were the result of We Didn't Start the Fire and The River of Dreams.
Among the music legend's many claims to fame, his 52nd Street album was the first commercially released compact disc.
ASCAP's Founder's Award
In 1997, Billy received ASCAP's Founder's Award for lifetime achievement. Past recipients of the Founder's Award include: Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Leiber and Stoller and other legends.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
In 1999, Joel was inducted as a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Ray Charles. (Joel and Brinkley's daughter, Alexa Ray credits her middle name to Ray Charles.) One day later, on March 16th, he was one of a handful of artists to receive the first ever Recording Industry Association of Arts Diamond Award, having sold more than 10 million copies of his Greatest Hits Volume I and Volume II.
Two months earlier, he was honored with the Award of Merit at the American Music Awards because his inspired song-writing skills, musical arrangements, vocals, keyboard prowess and exciting showmanship had raised the piano man's art to a new level.
Songwriters Hall of Fame
In 2001, Joel was honored by the Songwriters Hall of Fame with the Johnny Mercer Award, the organization's highest honor.
For further details on Billy Joel, go to: BillyJoel.com
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