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Billy Joel

William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his signature 1973 song, Joel has had a successful career as a solo artist since the 1970s. From 1971 to 1993, he released 12 studio albums spanning the genres of pop and  rock, and in 2001 released a one-off studio album of  classical compositions. Joel is one of the world's best-selling music artists and the fourth-best-selling solo artist in the United States, with over 160 million records sold worldwide. His 1985 compilation album, Greatest Hits – Volume I & Volume II, is one of the best-selling albums in the United States.

Joel was born in the Bronx in New York City and grew up on Long Island, where he began taking piano lessons at his mother's insistence. After dropping out of high school to pursue a music career, Joel took part in two short-lived bands, The Hassles and Attila, before signing a record deal with Family Productions and starting off a solo career with his debut, Cold Spring Harbor (1971). In 1972, Joel caught the attention of Columbia Records after a live radio performance of "Captain Jack" became popular in Philadelphia, prompting him to sign a new record deal with the company, where he released his second album, Piano Man (1973). After Streetlife Serenade (1974) and Turnstiles (1976), Joel achieved his critical and commercial breakthrough with The Stranger (1977). It became Columbia's best-selling release, selling over 10 million copies and spawning the hit singles "Just the Way You Are", "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)", "Only the Good Die Young" and "She's Always a Woman" as well as the concert staple "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant".

52nd Street (1978) was Joel's first album to peak at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Glass Houses (1980) was an attempt to further establish himself as a rock artist; it featured "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" (Joel's first single to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart), "You May Be Right", "Don't Ask Me Why" and "Sometimes a Fantasy". The Nylon Curtain (1982) stemmed from a desire to create more lyrically and melodically ambitious music. An Innocent Man (1983) served as an homage to genres of music that Joel had grown up with in the 1950s, such as rhythm and blues and doo-wop; it featured "Tell Her About It", "Uptown Girl" and "The Longest Time", three of his best-known songs. After River of Dreams (1993), he largely retired from producing studio material, although he went on to release Fantasies and Delusions (2001), featuring classical compositions composed by him and performed by British-Korean pianist Richard Hyung-ki Joo. Joel provided voiceover work in 1988 for the Disney animated film Oliver & Company, performing the song "Why Should I Worry?", and contributed to the soundtracks to several films, including Easy Money (1983), Ruthless People (1986) and Honeymoon in Vegas (1992). Joel returned to composing new music with the 2024 single “Turn the Lights Back On”.

Joel has had a successful touring career, holding live performances across the globe. In 1987, he became one of the first artists to hold a rock tour in the Soviet Union following the country's alleviation of its ban on rock music. Joel has produced 33 self-written Top 40 hits in the U.S., three of which ("It's Still Rock and Roll to Me", "Tell Her About It" and "We Didn't Start the Fire") topped the Billboard Hot 100. Joel has been nominated for 23 Grammy Awards, winning 6, including Album of the Year for 52nd Street. Joel was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999) and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2006). He received the 2001 Johnny Mercer Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and was recognized at the 2013 Kennedy Center Honors.

Early life, family and education
Joel was born on May 9, 1949, in the Bronx, New York City. When he was a year old, his family moved to the Long Island suburb of Hicksville, in the town of Oyster Bay, where he and his cousin Judy, whom his parents adopted, were raised in a section of Levitt homes.

Joel's father, Howard (born Helmut) Joel (1923–2011), a classical pianist and businessman, was born in Nuremberg, Germany, to a Jewish family, the son of merchant and manufacturer Karl Amson Joel, and educated in Switzerland. His father had created a highly successful mail-order textile business, Joel Macht Fabrik. To escape the Nazi regime, Howard's family emigrated to Switzerland. His father sold his business at a fraction of its value in order to emigrate. The family reached the United States via Cuba, because immigration quotas for German Jews prevented direct immigration at the time. In the United States, Howard became an engineer but always loved music. Joel's mother, Rosalind (1922–2014), was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish parents, Philip and Rebecca Nyman, who had emigrated from England.

Joel's parents met in the late 1930s at City College of New York at a Gilbert and Sullivan performance. He has said that neither of his parents talked much about World War II, which were such dark years; it was not until later that Joel learned more about his father's family. After Rosalind and Howard Joel divorced in 1957, Howard returned to Europe, as he had never liked the United States; he considered the people uneducated and materialistic. He settled in Vienna, Austria, and later remarried. Joel has a half-brother, Alexander Joel, born to his father in Europe, who became a classical conductor there. Alexander Joel was the chief musical director of the Staatstheater Braunschweig from 2001 to 2014.

Joel reluctantly began piano lessons at age four at his mother's insistence. His teachers included the noted American pianist Morton Estrin and musician Timothy Ford. Joel says that he is a better organist than a pianist. As a teenager, Joel took up boxing so he could defend himself. He boxed successfully on the amateur Golden Gloves circuit for a short time, winning 22 bouts, but abandoned the sport shortly after his nose was broken in his 24th match.

Although Joel's parents were Jewish, he was not raised in the religion, adding "My parents were both from Jewish families. I was not brought up Jewish in any religious way. My circumcision was as Jewish as they got." He attended a Roman Catholic church with friends. At age 11, he was baptized in a Church of Christ in Hicksville. He now identifies as an atheist Jew.

Joel attended Hicksville High School until 1967 but did not graduate with his class. He was playing at a piano bar to help support himself, his mother and sister, and missed a crucial English exam after playing a late-night gig the evening before. Although Joel was a comparatively strong student, at the end of his senior year, he did not have enough credits to graduate. Rather than attend summer school to earn his diploma, Joel decided to begin a music career: "I told them, 'To hell with it. If I'm not going to Columbia University, I'm going to Columbia Records, and you don't need a high school diploma over there'." In 1992, he submitted essays to the school board in lieu of the missed exam. They were accepted, and he was awarded his diploma at Hicksville High's annual graduation ceremony 25 years after leaving.

1964–1970: Early career
Influenced by early rock & roll and rhythm & blues artists, including Elvis Presley and The Everly Brothers, Joel favored tightly structured pop melodies and down-to-earth songwriting. After seeing The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, Joel decided to pursue a career in music. He recalled:

"That one performance changed my life... Up to that moment I'd never considered playing rock as a career. And when I saw four guys who didn't look like they'd come out of the Hollywood star mill, who played their own songs and instruments, and especially because you could see this look in John Lennon's face—and he looked like he was always saying: 'F--- you!'—I said: 'I know these guys, I can relate to these guys, I am these guys. This is what I'm going to do—play in a rock band'."

At age 16, Joel joined the Echoes, a group that specialized in British Invasion covers. The Echoes began recording in 1965. Joel played piano on several records released through Kama Sutra Productions and on recordings produced by Shadow Morton. Joel played on a demo version of "Leader of the Pack", which became a major hit for the Shangri-Las. Joel states that in 1964 he played on a recording of the Shangri-Las' "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" but he is unaware of whether he played on the demo or master version. The released single included a co-producer credit for Artie Ripp, who later was the first to sign and produce Joel as a solo artist after Michael Lang, who had given Joel a monetary advance, passed Joel along to Ripp to focus his attentions elsewhere.

In late 1965, the Echoes changed their name to the Emeralds, and then to the Lost Souls. Joel left the band in 1967 to join the Hassles, a Long Island group that had signed with United Artists Records. Over the next year and a half, they released four singles and two albums (The Hassles and Hour of the Wolf). All were commercial failures. Joel and drummer Jon Small left the Hassles in 1969 to form the duo Attila, releasing an eponymous debut album in July 1970. The duo disbanded the following October when Joel began an affair with Small's wife, Elizabeth. The pair later married.

1970–1974: Cold Spring Harbor and Piano Man
Joel signed a contract with the record company Family Productions, with which he recorded his first solo album, Cold Spring Harbor, named for a hamlet on his native Long Island. Ripp states that he spent US$450,000 developing Joel; nevertheless, the album was mastered at too high a speed and was a technical and commercial disappointment.

The popular songs "She's Got a Way" and "Everybody Loves You Now" were originally released on this album, but went largely unnoticed until being released as live performances on Songs in the Attic (1981). Columbia released a remastered version of Cold Spring Harbor in 1983, with certain songs shortened or re-orchestrated.

Joel began his Cold Spring Harbor tour in the fall of 1971, touring with his band, consisting of Rhys Clark on drums, Al Hertzberg on guitar, and Larry Russell on bass guitar, throughout the mainland United States and Puerto Rico, opening for such artists as the J. Geils Band, The Beach Boys, Badfinger and Taj Mahal. Joel's performance at the Puerto Rican Mar y Sol Pop Festival was especially well-received; and although recorded, Joel refused to have it published on the Mar Y Sol compilation album Mar Y Sol: The First International Puerto Rico Pop Festival. Nevertheless, interest in his music grew.

During the spring of 1972, the Philadelphia radio station WMMR-FM began playing a concert recording of "Captain Jack", which became an underground hit on the East Coast. Herb Gordon, a Columbia Records executive, heard Joel's music and introduced him to the company. Joel signed a recording contract with Columbia in 1972 and moved to Los Angeles, California; he lived there for the next three years. For six months he worked at The Executive Room piano bar on Wilshire Boulevard as "Bill Martin". During that time, he composed his signature song "Piano Man" about the bar's patrons.

Despite Joel's new contract, he was legally bound to Family Productions. Artie Ripp sold Joel's first contract to Columbia. Walter Yetnikoff, the president of CBS/Columbia Records at the time, bought back the rights to Joel's songs in the late 1970s, giving the rights to Joel as a birthday gift. Yetnikoff notes in the documentary The Last Play at Shea that he had to threaten Ripp to close the deal.

Joel's first album with Columbia was Piano Man (1973). Despite modest sales, the album's title track became his signature song, ending nearly every concert. That year Joel's touring band changed. Guitarist Al Hertzberg was replaced by Don Evans, and bassist Larry Russell by Patrick McDonald, himself replaced in late 1974 by Doug Stegmeyer, who stayed with Joel until 1989. Rhys Clark returned as drummer and Tom Whitehorse as banjoist and pedal steel player; Johnny Almond joined as saxophonist and keyboardist. The band toured the U.S. and Canada extensively, appearing on popular music shows. Joel's songwriting began attracting more attention; in 1974 Helen Reddy recorded the Piano Man track "You're My Home".

1974–1977: Streetlife Serenade and Turnstiles
In 1974, Joel recorded his second Columbia album in Los Angeles, Streetlife Serenade. His manager at the time was Jon Troy, an old friend from New York's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood; Troy was soon replaced by Joel's wife Elizabeth. Streetlife Serenade contains references to suburbia and the inner city. It is perhaps best known for "The Entertainer", a No. 34 hit in the U.S. Upset that "Piano Man" had been significantly cut for radio play, Joel wrote "The Entertainer" as a sarcastic response: "If you're gonna have a hit, you gotta make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05." Although Streetlife Serenade was viewed unfavorably by critics, it contains the notable songs "Los Angelenos" and "Root Beer Rag", an instrumental that was a staple of his live set in the 1970s.

In late 1975, Joel played piano and organ on several tracks on Bo Diddley's The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll all-star album.

Disenchanted with Los Angeles, Joel returned to New York City in 1975 and recorded Turnstiles, the first album he recorded with the musicians with whom he toured. Produced by James William Guercio (then Chicago's producer), Turnstiles was first recorded at Caribou Ranch with members of Elton John's band. Dissatisfied with the result, Joel re-recorded the songs and produced the album himself.

"Say Goodbye to Hollywood" was a minor hit, covered by Ronnie Spector and Nigel Olsson. In a 2008 radio interview, Joel said that he no longer performs the song because singing it in its high original key "shreds" his vocal cords; however, he did finally play it live for the first time since 1982 when he sang it at the Hollywood Bowl in May 2014. Although never released as a single, "New York State of Mind" became one of Joel's best-known songs; Barbra Streisand recorded a cover and Tony Bennett performed it as a duet with Joel on Playing with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues. Other notable songs from the album include "Summer, Highland Falls"; "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" and "Prelude/Angry Young Man", a concert mainstay.

1977–1979: The Stranger and 52nd Street
Columbia Records introduced Joel to Phil Ramone, who produced all of Joel's studio albums from 1977 to 1986. The Stranger (1977) was an enormous commercial success, yielding four Top-25 hits on the Billboard charts: "Just the Way You Are" (No. 3), "Movin' Out" (No. 17), "Only the Good Die Young" (No. 24) and "She's Always a Woman" (No. 17). Joel's first Top Ten album, The Stranger reached number two on the charts and was certified multi-platinum, besting Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge over Troubled Water as Columbia's previous bestselling album. "Just the Way You Are"—written for Joel's first wife, Elizabeth Weber —was inspired by a dream and won Grammy awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. On tour in Paris, Joel learned the news late one night in a hotel room. It also featured "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", an album-oriented rock classic, which has become one of his best-known songs. It is one of Joel's favorite of his own songs, which has become a firm staple of his live shows, and "Vienna", also one of Joel's personal favorites and as of 2022 one of his most streamed songs on the internet. Rolling Stone later ranked The Stranger the 70th greatest album of all time.

Joel released 52nd Street in 1978, naming it after Manhattan's 52nd Street, which, at the time of its release, served as the world headquarters of CBS/ Columbia. The album sold over seven million copies, propelled to number one on the charts by the hits "My Life" (No. 3), "Big Shot" (No. 14) and "Honesty" (No. 24). A cover of "My Life" by Gary Bennett became the theme for the television sitcom Bosom Buddies. 52nd Street also won Grammy awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male and Album of the Year.

In 1979, Joel traveled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival that took place between March 2–4, alongside Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson, Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, the Trio of Doom, Fania All-Stars, Billy Swan, Bonnie Bramlett, Mike Finnegan, Weather Report, and an array of Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines and Orquesta Aragón. His performance is captured in Ernesto Juan Castellanos's documentary Havana Jam '79.

52nd Street was the first commercially released album on the then-new compact disc format, in 1982.

1979–1983: Glass Houses and The Nylon Curtain
The success of his piano-driven ballads like "Just the Way You Are", "She's Always a Woman" and "Honesty" led some critics to label Joel a "balladeer" and "soft rocker". He thought these labels were unfair and insulting, and with Glass Houses, Joel tried to record an album that proved that he could rock harder than his critics gave him credit for, occasionally imitating and referring to the style of new wave rock music that was starting to become popular. On the album cover, Joel is pictured in a leather jacket, about to throw a rock at a glass house (referring to the adage that "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones").

Glass Houses spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard chart and yielded the hits "You May Be Right" (No. 7, May 1980), "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me", (No. 1, July 1980), "Don't Ask Me Why" (No. 19, September 1980) and "Sometimes a Fantasy" (No. 36, November 1980). "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me", Joel's first Billboard number-one single, spent 11 weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and was the seventh biggest hit of 1980 according to American Top 40. His five sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in 1980 earned him the Garden's Gold Ticket Award for selling more than 100,000 tickets at the venue.

Glass Houses won the Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male. It also won the American Music Award for Favorite Album, Pop/Rock category. The album's closing song, "Through The Long Night" (B-side of the "It's Still Rock & Roll to Me" single), was a lullaby that featured Joel harmonizing with himself in a song he says was inspired by The Beatles' "Yes It Is". In a recorded Masterclass at the University of Pennsylvania, Joel recalled that he had written to the Beatles asking them how to get started in the music industry. In response, he received a pamphlet about Beatles merchandise. This later led to the idea of Joel conducting Q&A sessions around the world answering questions that people had about the music industry.

Joel's next release, Songs in the Attic, was composed of live performances of lesser-known songs from the beginning of his career. It was recorded at larger US arenas and in intimate night club shows in June and July 1980. This release introduced many fans, who discovered Joel when The Stranger became a smash in 1977, to many of his earlier compositions. The album reached No. 8 on the Billboard chart and produced two hit singles: "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (No. 17), and "She's Got a Way" (No. 23). It sold over 3 million copies. Although not as successful as some of his previous albums, it was still considered a success by Joel.

The next wave of Joel's career commenced with the recording of The Nylon Curtain. With it, Joel became more ambitious with his songwriting, which included highly topical songs like "Allentown" and "Goodnight Saigon". Joel has stated that he wanted the album to communicate his feelings about the American Dream and how changes in American politics during the Reagan administration meant that "all of a sudden you weren't going to be able to inherit [the kind of life] your old man had." He also tried to be more ambitious in his use of the recording studio. Joel said that he wanted to "create a sonic masterpiece" on The Nylon Curtain. So he spent more time in the studio, crafting the sound of the album, than he had on any previous album. Production of The Nylon Curtain began in the fall of 1981. However, production was temporarily delayed when Joel was involved in a serious motorcycle accident on Long Island on April 15, 1982, severely injuring his hands. Still, Joel quickly recovered from his injuries, and the album ended up being delayed by only a few months.

In 1982, Joel embarked on a brief tour in support of the album. From one of the final shows of the tour, Joel made his first video special, Live from Long Island, which was recorded at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on December 29, 1982. It was originally broadcast on HBO in 1983 before it became available on VHS.

The Nylon Curtain went to No. 7 on the charts, partially due to heavy airplay on MTV for the videos to the singles "Allentown" and "Pressure", both directed by Russell Mulcahy.

1983–1988: An Innocent Man and The Bridge
Joel's next album moved away from the serious themes of The Nylon Curtain and struck a much lighter tone. An Innocent Man was Joel's tribute to R&B and doo wop music of the 1950s and 1960s and resulted in Joel's second Billboard number-one hit, "Tell Her About It", which was the first single off the album in the summer of 1983. The album itself reached No. 4 on the charts and No. 2 in UK. It also boasted six top-30 singles, the most of any album in Joel's catalog. The album was well received by critics, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine, senior editor for AllMusic, describing Joel as being "in top form as a craftsman throughout the record, effortlessly spinning out infectious, memorable melodies in a variety of styles."

At the time that the album was released, WCBS-FM began playing "Uptown Girl" both in regular rotation and on the Doo Wop Live. The song became a worldwide hit upon its release. The music video of the song, originally written about then-girlfriend Elle MacPherson, featured Christie Brinkley as a high-society girl who pulls her car into the gas station where Joel's character is working. At the end of the video, Joel's "grease monkey" character drives off with his "uptown girl" on the back of a motorcycle. When Brinkley went to visit Joel after being asked to star in the video, the first thing Joel said to her upon opening his door was "I don't dance". Brinkley had to walk him through the basic steps he does in the video. Their work together on this video shoot sparked a relationship between the two which led to their marriage in 1985.

In December, the title song was released as a single and it peaked at No. 10 in the U.S. and No. 8 in the UK, early in 1984. That March, "The Longest Time" was released as a single, peaking at No. 14 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. That summer, "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" was released and it hit No. 27 while "Keeping the Faith" peaked at No. 18 in January 1985. In the video for "Keeping the Faith", Brinkley also plays the "redhead girl in a Chevrolet". An Innocent Man was also nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy, but lost to Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Joel participated in the USA for Africa "We Are the World" project in 1985.

Following An Innocent Man, Joel was asked about releasing an album of his most successful singles. This was not the first time this topic had come up, but Joel had initially considered "Greatest Hits" albums as marking the end of one's career. This time he agreed, and Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and 2 was released as a four-sided album and two-CD set, with the songs in the order in which they were released. The new songs "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" and "The Night Is Still Young" were recorded and released as singles to support the album; both reached the top 40, peaking at No. 9 and No. 34, respectively. Greatest Hits was highly successful and it has since been certified double diamond by the RIAA, with over 11.5 million copies (23 million units) sold. It is one of the best-selling albums in American music history, according to the RIAA.

Coinciding with the Greatest Hits album release, Joel released a two-volume Video Album that was a compilation of the promotional videos he had recorded from 1977 to that time. Along with videos for the new singles off the Greatest Hits album, Joel also recorded a video for his first hit, "Piano Man", for this project.

Joel's next album, The Bridge (1986), did not achieve the level of success of his previous albums, but it yielded the hits "A Matter of Trust" and "Modern Woman" (both No. 10) from the film Ruthless People, a dark comedy from the directors of Airplane!. The ballad "This is the Time" also charted, peaking at No. 18. On November 18, 1986, an extended version of "Big Man on Mulberry Street" was used on a Season 3 episode of Moonlighting.The Bridge was Joel's last album to carry the Family Productions logo, after which he severed his ties with Artie Ripp. Joel has also stated in many interviews, most recently in a 2008 interview in Performing Songwriter magazine, that he does not think The Bridge is a good album.

In October 1986, Joel and his team started planning a trip to the Soviet Union. There were live performances at indoor arenas in Moscow, Leningrad and Tbilisi. Joel, his family (including young daughter Alexa), and his full touring band made the trip in July 1987. The entourage was filmed for television and video to offset the cost of the trip, and the concerts were simulcast on radio around the world. Joel's Russian tour was the first live rock radio broadcast in Soviet history. The tour was later cited frequently as one of the first fully staged pop rock shows to come to the Soviet Union, although in reality other artists had previously toured in the country, including Elton John, James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt.

Most of that audience took a long while to warm up to Joel's energetic show, something that had never happened in other countries he had performed in. According to Joel, each time the fans were hit with the bright lights, anybody who seemed to be enjoying themselves froze. In addition, people who were "overreacting" were removed by security. During this concert Joel, enraged by the bright lights, flipped his electric piano and snapped a microphone stand while continuing to sing. He later apologized for the incident.

The album КОНЦЕРТ (Russian for "Concert") was released in October 1987. Singer Pete Hewlett was brought in to hit the high notes on his most vocally challenging songs, like "An Innocent Man". Joel also did versions of The Beatles' classic "Back in the U.S.S.R." and Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin". It has been estimated that Joel lost more than US$1 million of his own money on the trip and concerts, but he has said the goodwill he was shown there was well worth it.

1988–1993: Storm Front and River of Dreams
The animated film Oliver & Company (1988) features Joel in a rare voice acting role as Dodger, a sarcastic Jack Russell based on Dickens's Artful Dodger. The character's design is based on Joel's image at the time, including his trademark Wayfarer sunglasses. Joel also sang his character's song "Why Should I Worry?".

The recording of Storm Front, which commenced in 1988, coincided with major changes in Joel's career and inaugurated a period of serious upheaval in his business affairs. In August 1989, just before the album was released, Joel dismissed his manager (and former brother-in-law) Frank Weber after an audit revealed major discrepancies in Weber's accounting. Joel subsequently sued Weber for US$90 million, claiming fraud and breach of fiduciary duty, and in January 1990, Joel was awarded US$2 million in a partial judgment against Weber; in April, the court dismissed a US$30 million countersuit filed by Weber.

The first single for the album, "We Didn't Start the Fire", was released in September 1989 and it became Joel's third—and most recent—US number-one hit, spending two weeks at the top. Storm Front was released in October, and it eventually became Joel's first number-one album since Glass Houses, nine years earlier. Storm Front was Joel's first album since Turnstiles to be recorded without Phil Ramone as producer. For this album, he wanted a new sound, and worked with Mick Jones of Foreigner. Joel is also credited as one of the keyboard players on Jones's 1988 self-titled solo album, and is featured in the official video for Jones's single "Just Wanna Hold"; Joel can be seen playing the piano while his then-wife Christie Brinkley joins him and kisses him. Joel also revamped his backing band, dismissing everyone but drummer Liberty DeVitto, guitarist David Brown, and saxophone player Mark Rivera, and bringing in new faces, including multi-instrumentalist Crystal Taliefero.

Storm Front second single, "I Go to Extremes" reached No. 6 in early 1990. The album was also notable for its song "Leningrad", written after Joel met a clown in the Soviet city of that name during his tour in 1987, and "The Downeaster Alexa", written to underscore the plight of fishermen on Long Island who are barely able to make ends meet. Another well-known single from the album is the ballad "And So It Goes" (No. 37 in late 1990). The song was originally written in 1983, around the time Joel was writing songs for An Innocent Man; but "And So It Goes" did not fit that album's retro theme, so it was held back until Storm Front. Joel said in a 1996 Masterclass session in Pittsburgh that Storm Front was a turbulent album and that "And So It Goes", as the last song on the album, portrayed the calm and tranquility that often follows a violent thunderstorm.

In the summer of 1992, Joel filed a US$90 million lawsuit against his former lawyer Allen Grubman, alleging a wide range of offenses including fraud, breach of fiduciary responsibility, malpractice and breach of contract. The case was settled out of court in the fall of 1993 for US$3 million paid to Joel by third party Sony America, to protect its subsidiary Sony Music's interests, as it had several other artists also using Grubman's law firm.

In 1992, Joel inducted the R&B duo Sam & Dave into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That year, Joel also started work on River of Dreams, finishing the album in early 1993. Its cover art was a colorful painting by Christie Brinkley that was a series of scenes from each of the songs on the album. The eponymous first single was the last top 10 hit Joel has penned to date, reaching No. 3 on Billboard Hot 100 chart and ranking at No. 21 on the 1993 year-end Hot 100 chart. In addition to the title track, the album includes the hits "All About Soul" (with Color Me Badd on backing vocals) and "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)", written for his daughter, Alexa. A radio remix version of "All About Soul" can be found on The Essential Billy Joel (2001), and a demo version appears on My Lives (2005).

The song "The Great Wall of China" was written about his ex-manager Frank Weber and was a regular in the setlist for Joel's 2006 tour. "2000 Years" was prominent in the millennium concert at Madison Square Garden, December 31, 1999, and "Famous Last Words" closed the book on Joel's pop songwriting for more than a decade.

1994–present: Touring
Beginning in 1994, Joel toured extensively with Elton John on a series of "Face to Face" tours, making them the longest running and most successful concert tandem in pop music history. During these shows, the two played their own songs, sang each other's songs, and performed duets. They grossed over US$46 million in just 24 dates in their sold out 2003 tour. Joel and John resumed their Face to Face tour in March 2009 and it continued until March 2010, where it ended in Albany, New York, at the Times Union Center. In February 2010, Joel denied rumors in the trade press that he canceled a summer 2010 leg of the tour, claiming there were never any dates booked and that he intended to take the year off. Joel told Rolling Stone: "We'll probably pick it up again. It's always fun playing with him."

Joel and Christie Brinkley announced on April 13, 1994, that they had separated, and their divorce was finalized in August 1994. The two remained friends.

Joel's Greatest Hits Volume III yielded "To Make You Feel My Love" (a Bob Dylan cover) and "Hey Girl". Joel wrote and recorded the song "Shameless" that was later recorded by Garth Brooks and reached No. 1 on Billboard country charts. Joel performed with Brooks during his Central Park concert in 1997. Joel was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. Ray Charles made the induction speech and mentioned the duet Joel wrote for the two of them, "Baby Grand" (a track on Joel's album The Bridge released in 1986).

On December 31, 1999, Joel performed at New York's Madison Square Garden. At the time, Joel said that it would be his last tour and possibly his last concert. Two of his performances from that night, "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" were filmed and featured that night as part of ABC's special New Year's Y2K coverage. The concert (dubbed The Night of the 2000 Years) ran for close to four hours and was later released as 2000 Years: The Millennium Concert.

In 2001, Joel released Fantasies & Delusions, a collection of classical piano pieces composed by Joel and performed by Hyung-ki Joo. Joel often uses bits of these pieces as interludes in live performances, and some of them are part of the score for the hit show Movin' Out. The album topped the classical charts at No. 1. Joel performed "New York State of Mind" live on September 21, 2001, as part of the America: A Tribute to Heroes benefit concert, and on October 20, 2001, along with "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)", at the Concert for New York City in Madison Square Garden. That night, he also performed "Your Song" with Elton John.

In 2003, Joel inducted The Righteous Brothers into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, noting that his song "Until the Night" from the album 52nd Street was a tribute to the duo.

In 2005, Columbia released a box set, My Lives, which is largely a compilation of demos, b-sides, live/alternative versions and even a few Top 40 hits. The compilation also includes the software that permits people to remix "Zanzibar" and a live version of "I Go to Extremes" with their PC. A DVD of a show from the River of Dreams tour is included.

On January 7, 2006, Joel began a tour across the U.S. Having not released any new songs in 13 years, he featured a sampling of songs from throughout his career, including major hits as well as deep cuts like "Zanzibar" and "All for Leyna". His tour included an unprecedented 12 sold-out concerts over several months at Madison Square Garden. The singer's stint of 12 shows at Madison Square Garden broke a previous record set by Bruce Springsteen, who played 10 sold-out shows at the same arena. The record earned Joel the first retired number (12) in the arena owned by a non-athlete. This honor has also been given to Joel at the Wells Fargo Center (formerly the Wachovia Center) in Philadelphia, where a banner in the colors of the Philadelphia Flyers is hung honoring Joel's 48 sold-out Philadelphia shows. On June 13, 2006, Columbia released 12 Gardens Live, a double album containing 32 live recordings from a collection of the 12 different shows at Madison Square Garden during Joel's 2006 tour.

Joel visited the United Kingdom and Ireland for the first time in many years as part of the European leg of his 2006 tour. On July 31, 2006, he performed a free concert in Rome, with the Colosseum as the backdrop.

Joel toured South Africa, Australia, Japan and Hawaii in late 2006, and subsequently toured the Southeastern U.S. in February and March 2007 before hitting the Midwest in the spring of 2007. A new song, titled "All My Life", was Joel's newest single (with second track "You're My Home", live from Madison Square Garden 2006 tour) and was released in stores on February 27, 2007. On February 4, Joel sang the national anthem for Super Bowl XLI, becoming the second to sing the national anthem twice at a Super Bowl, after Aaron Neville.

On December 1, 2007, Joel premiered his new song "Christmas in Fallujah". The song was performed by Cass Dillon, a new Long Island based musician, as Joel felt it should be sung by someone in a soldier's age range (though he himself has played the song occasionally in concert.) The track was dedicated to servicemen based in Iraq. Joel wrote it in September 2007 after reading numerous letters sent to him from American soldiers in Iraq. "Christmas in Fallujah" is only the second pop/rock song released by Joel since 1993's River of Dreams. Proceeds from the song benefited the Homes For Our Troops foundation.

On January 26, 2008, Joel performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra celebrating the 151st anniversary of the Academy of Music. Joel performed his classical piece "Waltz No. 2 (Steinway Hall)" from Fantasies & Delusions, arranged by Brad Ellis. He also played many of his less well-known pieces, with full orchestral backing arranged by Mr. Ellis, including the rarely performed Nylon Curtain songs "Scandinavian Skies" and "Where's the Orchestra?".

On March 10, 2008, Joel inducted his friend John Mellencamp into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Joel sold out 10 concerts at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut from May to July 2008. The casino honored him with a banner displaying his name and the number 10 to hang in the arena. On June 19, 2008, he played a concert at the grand re-opening of Caesars Windsor (formerly Casino Windsor) in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, to an invite-only crowd for Casino VIPs. His mood was light and joke-filled, even introducing himself as "Billy Joel's dad" and stating "you guys overpaid to see a fat bald guy". He also admitted that Canadian folk-pop musician Gordon Lightfoot was the musical inspiration for "She's Always A Woman".

On July 16 and 18, 2008, Joel played the final concerts at Shea Stadium before its demolition. His guests included Tony Bennett, Don Henley, John Mayer, John Mellencamp, Steven Tyler, Roger Daltrey, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney. The concerts were featured in the 2010 documentary film Last Play at Shea. The film was released on DVD on February 8, 2011. The CD and DVD of the show, Live at Shea Stadium, were released on March 8, 2011.

On December 11, 2008, Joel recorded his own rendition of "Christmas in Fallujah" during a concert at Acer Arena in Sydney and released it as a live single in Australia only. It is the only official release of Joel performing "Christmas in Fallujah", as Cass Dillon sang on the 2007 studio recording and the handful of times the song was played live in 2007. Joel sang the song throughout his December 2008 tour of Australia.

On May 19, 2009, Joel's former drummer, Liberty DeVitto, filed a lawsuit in NYC claiming Joel and Sony Music owed DeVitto over 10 years of royalty payments. DeVitto had never been given songwriting or arranging credit on any of Joel's songs, but he claimed that he helped arrange some of them, including "Only the Good Die Young". In April 2010, it was announced that Joel and DeVitto amicably resolved the lawsuit.

2011 marked the 40th anniversary of the release of Joel's debut album, Cold Spring Harbor. According to Joel's official website, to commemorate this anniversary, Columbia/Legacy Recordings originally planned "to celebrate the occasion with a definitive reissue project of newly restored and expanded Legacy editions of Joel's complete catalog, newly curated collections of rarities from the vaults, previously unavailable studio tracks and live performances, home video releases and more", although this never fully came to fruition. Piano Man was re-released in a two-disc Legacy edition in November 2011.

In 2012, Joel signed an exclusive worldwide publishing agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), and its subsidiary Rondor Music International. Under the agreement, UMPG and Rondor replaced EMI Music Publishing in handling Joel's catalog outside the US. Additionally, the agreement marked the first time since Joel regained control of his publishing rights in the 1980s that he began to use an administrator to handle his catalog within the U.S. The agreement's focus is on increasing the use of Joel's music in movies, television programs and commercials.

On December 12, 2012, Joel performed as part of 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden, a concert held for all the victims of Hurricane Sandy. He changed the lyrics to "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" to make it relate to all the damage caused by Sandy.

In May 2013, it was announced that Joel would hold his first ever indoor Irish concert at the O2 in Dublin on November 1. He subsequently announced his return to the UK for the first time in seven years to perform in October and November. Joel played in Manchester and Birmingham as well as London's Hammersmith Apollo. In October, Joel held a surprise concert on Long Island at The Paramount (Huntington, New York) to benefit Long Island Cares. The venue holds a capacity of 1,555 and sold out in five minutes. Joel headlined a solo arena concert in New York City for the first time since 2006 when he performed at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on December 31, 2013.

Joel announced a concert residency at Madison Square Garden, playing one concert a month indefinitely, starting January 27, 2014. The first MSG show also launched the Billy Joel in Concert tour, which continued at the Amway Center (in Orlando, Florida) where Joel performed several cover songs such as Elton John's "Your Song", Billy Preston's "You Are So Beautiful" (in tribute to Joe Cocker), The Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Can't Buy Me Love" and "When I'm 64", Robert Burns' "Auld Lang Syne" and AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" (with Brian Johnson). Joel also performed an unusual set, including the song "Souvenir" (from 1974's Streetlife Serenade) and excluding "We Didn't Start the Fire".

In 2015, Joel performed 21 concerts in addition to his monthly Madison Square Garden residency. His August 4, 2015, engagement at Nassau Coliseum was the final concert prior to the arena undergoing a US$261 million renovation. Joel returned to Nassau Coliseum on April 5, 2017, to play the first concert at the newly renovated venue. Later that month, Joel played the first concert at Atlanta's new SunTrust Park, the suburban home of the Atlanta Braves.

On June 24, 2017, he returned to Hicksville High School fifty years after his would-be graduating class received their diplomas, to deliver the honorary commencement address. It was also the 25th anniversary of receiving his own diploma from the same high school.

In 2019, Joel announced a concert at Camden Yards, home of the Baltimore Orioles, marking the first-ever concert at the baseball stadium. Joel was forced to postpone his concerts between March 2020 and August 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joel and Stevie Nicks jointly announced plans to perform a series of concerts across the United States in 2023, tentatively beginning with SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles on March 10.

On June 1, 2023, Joel announced that his residency at Madison Square Garden would end in July 2024 with his 104th performance in the series, marking his 150th lifetime performance at the venue.

On January 22, 2024, Joel announced his first new pop single in years (and only his second pop song in more than two decades), "Turn the Lights Back On", which released on February 1.

Other ventures
In 1996, Joel merged his long-held love of boating with his desire for a second career. With Long Island boating businessman Peter Needham, he formed the Long Island Boat Company.

In November 2010, Joel opened a shop in Oyster Bay, Long Island, to manufacture custom-made, retro-styled motorcycles and accessories.

In 2011, Joel announced that he was releasing an autobiography that he had written with Fred Schruers, titled The Book of Joel: A Memoir. The book was originally going to be released in June 2011, but, in March 2011, Joel decided against publishing the book and officially canceled his deal with HarperCollins. Rolling Stone noted, "HarperCollins acquired the book project for US$3 million in 2008. Joel is expected to return his advance on that sum to the publisher." According to Billboard, "the HarperCollins book was billed as an 'emotional ride' that would detail the music legend's failed marriage to Christie Brinkley, as well as his battles with substance abuse." In explaining his decision to cancel the book's release, Joel said, "It took working on writing a book to make me realize that I'm not all that interested in talking about the past, and that the best expression of my life and its ups and downs has been and remains my music." In 2014, Schruers published a biography, simply titled Billy Joel, based on his extensive personal interviews with Joel.

Marriages and family
Joel's first wife was Elizabeth Weber Small. When their relationship began, she was married to Jon Small, his music partner in the short-lived duo Attila, with whom she had a son. When the affair was revealed, Weber severed her relationships with both men. Weber and Joel later reconciled and married in 1973, and she then became his manager. They divorced on July 20, 1982.

Joel married a second time, to model Christie Brinkley, in March 1985. Their daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, was born December 29, 1985. Alexa was given the middle name of Ray after Ray Charles, one of Joel's musical idols. Joel and Brinkley divorced on August 26, 1994.

On October 2, 2004, Joel married chef Katie Lee, his third wife. At the time of the wedding, Lee was 23 and Joel was 55. Joel's daughter, Alexa Ray, then 18, served as maid of honor. Joel's second wife, Christie Brinkley, attended the union and gave the couple her blessing. On June 17, 2009, they announced their separation.

On July 4, 2015, Joel married a fourth time, to Alexis Roderick, an equestrian and former Morgan Stanley executive, at his estate on Long Island. He was 66; she was 33. Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo conducted the ceremony. The couple had been together since 2009. On August 12, 2015, the couple had a daughter Della Rose Joel. The couple's second daughter, Remy Anne Joel, was born on October 22, 2017.

Joel bought a house in Centre Island, New York, in 2002 for US$22 million. He also owns a house in Sag Harbor. In 2023, Joel put his Sag Harbor home on the market for $49 million.

In 2015, he purchased a home in Manalapan, Florida. The waterfront residence went on the market in November 2015 for $19.5 million but it was taken off the market and re-listed in 2017 with an asking price of $18.5 million. The property was further reduced to $16.9 million in 2018. In January 2020, the 13,200-square-foot property sold for US$10.3 million.

Health issues
Many speculate that Joel lives with depression; however, he rejects the label. Regardless, in 1970, a career decline and personal tragedies led him to a deep depressive period. Joel left a suicide note and attempted to end his life by drinking furniture polish. Later he said, "I drank furniture polish. It looked tastier than bleach." His drummer and bandmate, Jon Small, rushed him to the hospital. Joel checked into Meadowbrook Hospital, where he was put on suicide watch and received treatment for depression.

In 1985, Joel recorded "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" as a message to help prevent teen suicide.

In 2002, Joel entered Silver Hill Hospital, a substance abuse and psychiatric center in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he underwent treatment for 10 days. In March 2005, he checked into the Betty Ford Center, where he spent 30 days for the treatment of alcohol abuse.

Politics
Although Joel has donated money to Democratic candidates, he has never publicly affiliated himself with the Democratic Party. Joel is not known for publicly endorsing political candidates, however he did play a benefit with his friend Bruce Springsteen to raise money for Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2008. He has performed at benefit concerts that have helped raise funds for political causes. However, about celebrities endorsing political candidates, Joel has said, "People who pay for your tickets, I don't think they want to hear who you're going to vote for and how you think they should vote." Nonetheless, in 2016, after his sarcastic dedication of "The Entertainer" to then-Republican candidate Donald Trump was taken as a serious endorsement, Joel told the New York Daily News in an email that he would be voting for Hillary Clinton.

Tours
Tours

 * Cold Spring Habor Tour (1972)
 * Turntiles Tour (1976)
 * The Stranger Tour (1977)
 * 52nd Street Tour (1978)
 * The Nylon Curtain Tour (1981)
 * An Innocent Man Tour (1984)
 * The Bridge Tour (1986 - 87)
 * Storm Front Tour (1989 - 91)
 * River of Dreams Tour (1993 - 95)
 * Face To Face 1994 Tour (1994)
 * Face To Face 1995 Tour (1995)
 * An Evening of Questions and Awnswers (1996)
 * Face To Face 1998 Tour (1998)
 * Face To Face 2001 Tour (2001)
 * Face To Face 2002 Tour (2002)
 * Face To Face 2003 Tour (2003)
 * 2006 Tour (2006)
 * 2007 Tour (2007)
 * 2008 Tour (2008)
 * Face To Face 2009 Tour (2009)
 * Face To Face 2010 Tour (2010)
 * Billy Joel in Concert (2014 - )
 * Two Icons - One Night (2023)
 * Two Icons - One Night (2024)

Residency

 * Billy Joel At The Garden (2014 - 2024)

Discography
• Cold Spring Harbor (1971)

• Piano Man (1973)

• Streetlife Serenade (1974)

• Turnstiles (1976)

• The Stranger (1977)

• 52nd Street (1978)

• Glass Houses (1980)

• The Nylon Curtain (1982)

• An Innocent Man (1983)

• The Bridge (1986)

• Storm Front (1989)

• River of Dreams (1993)

• Fantasies & Delusions (2001), classical compositions

Awards and achievements
Joel graduated well after his high school peers because of a missed English exam. His high school diploma was finally awarded by the school board 25 years later. Joel has been presented with multiple honorary doctorates:
 * Doctor of Humane Letters from Fairfield University (1991)
 * Doctor of Music from Berklee College of Music (1993)
 * Doctor of Humane Letters from Hofstra University (1997)
 * Doctor of Music from Southampton College (2000)
 * Doctor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University (2006)
 * Doctor of Musical Arts from the Manhattan School of Music (2008)
 * Doctor of Music from Stony Brook University (2015)

In 1986, Joel was on the site selection committee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame board. Seven members of the committee voted for the Hall to be located in San Francisco, and seven voted for Cleveland, Ohio; this tie was broken when Joel voted for Cleveland. Joel was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in 1999 by one of his chief musical influences, Ray Charles, with whom he also collaborated on his song "Baby Grand" (1986).

Joel was also named MusiCares Person of the Year for 2002, an award given each year at the same time as the Grammy Awards. At the dinner honoring him, various artists performed versions of his songs, including Nelly Furtado, Stevie Wonder, Jon Bon Jovi, Diana Krall, Rob Thomas and Natalie Cole.

Joel has won five Grammys, including Album of the Year for 52nd Street and Song of the Year and Record of the Year for "Just the Way You Are".

In 1993, Joel was the second entertainer out of thirty persons to be inducted into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame. On September 20, 2004, Joel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for his work in the music industry, located at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard. He was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006.

Joel is the only performing artist to have played both Yankee and Shea Stadiums, as well as Giants Stadium, Madison Square Garden, and Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Joel has banners in the rafters of the MVP Arena, Nassau Coliseum, Madison Square Garden, Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, and the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse.

In 2003, Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list included The Stranger at number 67, and 52nd Street at number 352. On their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, Rolling Stone included "Piano Man" at number 421.

Joel has also sponsored the Billy Joel Visiting Composer Series at Syracuse University.

On December 12, 2011, Joel became the first non-classical musician honored with a portrait in Steinway Hall.

On December 29, 2013, in Washington, D.C., Joel received Kennedy Center Honors, the nation's highest honor for influencing American culture through the arts.

On July 22, 2014, the Library of Congress announced that Joel would be the sixth recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. He received the prize at a performance ceremony in November 2014 from James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

On July 18, 2018, Governor Andrew Cuomo proclaimed the date to be Billy Joel Day in New York state to mark his 100th performance at Madison Square Garden.

On October 19, 2023, a portion of Audrey Avenue in Joel's hometown of Oyster Bay was renamed "Billy Joel Way" in honor of the musician.

On April 14, 2024, Joel was featured on CBS in commemoration of his 100th performance at Madison Square Garden. The network broadcast an encore presentation of the concert special five nights later, on April 19.

In 2024, Joel was honored in "Group C Premiere: Billy Joel Night," on The Masked Singer Season 11. The contestants that night sang songs by Joel.

title: Billy Joel


text:
Talk:The Apartment

Black and White strike trivia
On the back of the box it said something about the movie being in color but due to a strike and deadlines it had to be produced in black and white. Could someone explain this somewhere? Better worded of course! It's very noteworthy "trivia", since a black and white movie at this time was have been a strange occurrence indeed... Master Thief Garrett 06:52, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Billy Wilder preferred to make black and white films. He didn't object to color per se, but to the kind of oversaturated color feature that was popular in that era.

Durova 09:12, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Comedy? Drama? Tragicomedy?
Hilarious? Yes, sometimes, but don't mislead people... there is quite a bit of darkness here (e.g. suicide attempts). It's a great film, but I'd call it a tragicomedy (or perhaps someone has a better less-dreck term?). firepink

 * I can't parse the first sentence. (Yes, there are movies I haven't seen.)  ;-)  Koyaanis Qatsi

 * I've labelled it "comedy-drama" since I thought the main theme of the movie was positive--it *does* end happily ever after, despite all the negative bits. "Tragicomedy" makes me think more of Greek plays and such. But I'm fairly certain this is comedy-drama. I guess I could check on IMDB... Master Thief Garrett 06:52, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

 * It ends happy, but the movie is far removed from romantic comedy. It has nothing of the conventions of romantic comedy. Romantic comedy-drama is a misnomer. If you can't properly classify it, just call it a film. Mandel 01:00, Jun 18, 2005 (UTC)

last B&W Best Picture?
Schindler's List does not contain any color sequences. There is a moment when Schindler (I think) sees a child with a red coat, which is the only colored object in the image. That's it. It is no more a "color" film than a silent movie with tints. WilliamSommerwerck (talk) 17:34, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

miscellaneous
The main protagonist is referred to throughout as "Bud", except in the "Stage adaptation " section, where he is called "Chuck" - is he re-named for stage ? 146.199.53.185 (talk) 07:48, 15 September 2019 (UTC)

Fred McMurray's character is named "Sheldrake", a name Widler used to excess. The Apartment might also be the last film in which McMurray played a nasty or craven character, which he was tiring of. ("Back when", he was considered quite the hunk. Captain Marvel is modeled after him.)

There needs to be a discussion of where The Apartment fits in Billy Wilder's ouevre. I see it as the beginning of the end. It's overly sentimental, and hardly of the quality of Some Like It Hot -- but when it comes to handing out Best Picture Oscars, sentimentality sells. He made no more "great" films, and cranked out one of the worst ever made by a major director, Kiss Me, Stupid. WilliamSommerwerck (talk) 17:34, 28 January 2010 (UTC)

WASP v Senites
How realistic is the Christmas party The decadent goys v the good jews

corny 1950s propaganda

be a mensch — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2605:6000:8260:BE00:91D:5C8:17A5:F145 (talk) 02:56, 20 February 2015 (UTC)
 * this film is 1960s, not 1950s. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.230.114.42 (talk) 08:59, 6 February 2020 (UTC)

T W Plews
Is the name inscribed on the glass door of the office cubicle next to CC Baxters new office. That refers to Tom Plews, who was the prop man for the film.

Tom Plews (1902–1984)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0687278/

81.132.99.199 (talk) 22:31, 26 October 2015 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:The Apartment


text:
Talk:Billy Joel

Harmonica player
Following up on Talk:Billy Joel/Archive 2, where it was noted that this article is in Category:American harmonica players, I see that addition of that to his instrument-list in the infobox is disputed. Let's get this resolved. I present: It is only makes a noticeable appearance in one of his major songs I think, but it is prominently featured there that other musical organizations have seen fit to highlight this aspect. DMacks (talk) 16:44, 25 September 2020 (UTC)
 * , where he has a signature harmonica (collaboration product with an instrument manufacturer) based on what he plays in concert
 * , where "Billy Joel has been playing Hohner harmonicas his entire career and they were featured on his first Top 20 single and first gold album"
 * Also, apologies to User:WWGB, didn't see you were simply reverting an unexplained addition that was not previously there, rather than removing what had existed. DMacks (talk) 16:48, 25 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I second that, while the Harmonica is not his most used instrument, it has a major role in probably his most popular song, as you mentioned (More than can be said for many other instruments he's played), and as an aspiring harmonica player myself I've always seen him as an inspiration, although that's more a personal anecdote than a proper argument. Erated8 (talk) 23:06, 8 September 2022 (UTC)
 * > it has a major role in probably his most popular song
 * He plays the harmonica AND piano at the same time in his most prominent song, surely something to note: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW4at7ugFGs?t=260 Drnxh (talk) 21:06, 15 February 2023 (UTC)

To add to article
To add to this article: Joel's approximate net worth. 173.88.246.138 (talk) 01:22, 27 July 2022 (UTC)

 * Not needed or relevant to his career or life and would constantly have to be updated to reflect his current finances Rsemmes92 (talk) 19:41, 7 February 2023 (UTC)

"Piano Man"??
The second sentence of the lead section says: "Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his signature song of the same name..." Really, commonly? By whom? When? This doesn't appear as a common nickname in the infobox, and has no sources to support it. Even if this was true, it does not deserve to be stated as an essential fact in the second sentence of the lead section. 92.15.148.117 (talk) 13:06, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Totally disagree. -  FlightTime  ( open channel ) 13:07, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
 * I have added a couple sources to directly back up the claim, but there are plenty of others, including littered throughout the page. Cerebral726 (talk) 13:41, 28 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Hard disagree as well. Thanks Cerebral for taking care of that.  Kjscotte34 (talk) 15:00, 28 December 2022 (UTC)

Guitar
To support addition of guitar in his instrument list, he has played guitar at most of his concerts and he plays it live on songs such as "A Matter of Trust" and "We Didn't Start The Fire" he was even playing a Gibson Les Paul in the music video of the former. GTAGamer245 (talk) 10:52, 9 November 2023 (UTC)

 * From the documentation for infobox musical artist: "Instruments listed in the infobox should be limited to those that the artist is primarily known for using. The instruments infobox parameter is  intended as a WP:COATRACK for every instrument the subject has ever used." Martin IIIa (talk) 02:18, 21 February 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Billy Joel


text:
Transitive verb

A transitive verb is a verb that entails one or more transitive objects, for example, 'enjoys' in Amadeus enjoys music. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not entail transitive objects, for example, 'arose' in Beatrice arose.

Transitivity is traditionally thought of as a global property of a clause, by which activity is transferred from an agent to a patient.

Transitive verbs can be classified by the number of objects they require. Verbs that entail only two arguments, a subject and a single direct object, are monotransitive. Verbs that entail two objects, a direct object and an indirect object, are ditransitive, or less commonly bitransitive. An example of a ditransitive verb in English is the verb to give, which may feature a subject, an indirect object, and a direct object: John gave Mary the book.

Verbs that take three objects are tritransitive. In English a tritransitive verb features an indirect object, a direct object, and a prepositional phrase – as in I'll trade you this bicycle for your binoculars – or else a clause that behaves like an argument – as in I bet you a pound that he has forgotten. Not all descriptive grammars recognize tritransitive verbs.

A clause with a prepositional phrase that expresses a meaning similar to that usually expressed by an object may be called pseudo-transitive. For example, the Indonesian sentences Dia masuk sekolah ("He attended school") and Dia masuk ke sekolah ("He went into the school") have the same verb (masuk "enter"), but the first sentence has a direct object while the second has a prepositional phrase in its place. A clause with a direct object plus a prepositional phrase may be called pseudo-ditransitive, as in the Lakhota sentence Haŋpíkčeka kiŋ lená wé-čage ("I made those moccasins for him"). Such constructions are sometimes called complex transitive. The category of complex transitives includes not only prepositional phrases but also dependent clauses, appositives, and other structures. There is some controversy regarding complex transitives and tritransitives; linguists disagree on the nature of the structures.

In contrast to transitive verbs, some verbs take zero objects. Verbs that do not require an object are called intransitive verbs. An example in modern English is the verb to arrive.

Verbs that can be used in an intransitive or transitive way are called ambitransitive verbs. In English, an example is the verb to eat; the sentences You eat (with an intransitive form) and You eat apples (a transitive form that has apples as the object) are both grammatical.

The concept of valency is related to transitivity. The valency of a verb considers all the arguments the verb takes, including both the subject and all of the objects. In contrast to valency, the transitivity of a verb only considers the objects. Subcategorization is roughly synonymous with valency, though they come from different theoretical traditions.

History
Transitive phrases, i.e. phrases containing transitive verbs, were first recognized by the stoics and from the Peripatetic school, but they probably referred to the whole phrase containing the transitive verb, not just to the verb. The advancements of the stoics were later developed by the philologists of the Alexandrian school.

Lexical vis-à-vis grammatical information
Traditionally, transitivity patterns are thought of as lexical information of the verb, but recent research in construction grammar and related theories has argued that transitivity is a grammatical rather than a lexical property, since the same verb very often appears with different transitivity in different contexts. Consider:

 * Does your dog bite? (no object)
 * The cat bit him. (one object)
 * Can you bite me off a piece of banana? (two objects)
 * The vase broke. (no object; anticausative construction)
 * She broke the toothpick. (one object)
 * Can you break me some toothpicks for my model castle? (two objects)
 * Stop me before I buy again. (no object; antipassive construction)
 * The man bought a ring. (one object)
 * The man bought his wife a ring. (two objects)

In grammatical construction theories, transitivity is considered as an element of grammatical construction, rather than an inherent part of verbs.

In English
The following sentences exemplify transitive verbs in English.
 * We're going to need a bigger boat.
 * You need to fill in this form.
 * Hang on, I'll have it ready in a minute.
 * The professor took off his spectacles.

Other languages
In some languages, morphological features separate verbs based on their transitivity, which suggests this is a salient linguistic feature. For example, in Japanese:

However, the definition of transitive verbs as those with one object is not universal, and is not used in grammars of many languages.

In Hungarian
Hungarian is sometimes misunderstood to have transitive and intransitive conjugation for all verbs, but there is really only one general conjugation. In present and future, there is a lesser used variant – a definite, or say emphatic conjugation form. It is used only when referring to a previous sentence, or topic, where the object was already mentioned. Logically the definite article a(z) as reference is used here—and due to verb emphasis (definite), word order changes to VO.
 * If one does not want to be definite, once can simply say:
 * házat látok — I see (a) house – (general)

 * látom a házat — I see the house – (The house we were looking for)

 * almát eszem — I eat (an) apple – (general)

 * eszem az almát — I eat the apple – (The one mom told me to)

 * bort iszom — I drink wine – (general)

 * iszom a bort — I drink the wine – (That you offered me before)

In English one would say 'I do see the house', etc., stressing the verb – in Hungarian, the object is emphasized – but both mean exactly the same thing.

In Pingelapese
In the Pingelapese language, transitive verbs are used in one of four of their most common sentence structures. Transitive verbs according to this language have two main characteristics. These characteristics are action verbs and the sentence must contain a direct object. To elaborate, an action verb is a verb that has a physical action associated to its meaning. The sentence must contain a direct object meaning there must be a recipient of said verb. Two entities must be involved when using a transitive sentence. There is also a fixed word order associated with transitive sentences: subject-transitive verb-object. For example:

Linda (Subject) e aesae (transitive verb) Adino (object) This sentence translates to, Linda knows Adino.

In Polish
The definition of transitive verbs as those with one object is not used in grammars of many languages. For example, it is generally accepted in Polish grammar that transitive verbs are those that: OR
 * Entail a direct object (in accusative in the positive form, and in genitive in the negative form)
 * Undergo passive transformation

Both conditions are fulfilled in many instances of transitive verbs:

Maria widzi Jana (Mary sees John; Jana is the accusative form of Jan) Jan jest widziany przez Marię (John is seen by Mary)

title: Transitive verb


text:
Obligate aerobe

An obligate aerobe is an organism that requires oxygen to grow. Through cellular respiration, these organisms use oxygen to metabolise substances, like sugars or fats, to obtain energy. In this type of respiration, oxygen serves as the terminal electron acceptor for the electron transport chain. Aerobic respiration has the advantage of yielding more energy (adenosine triphosphate or ATP) than fermentation or anaerobic respiration, but obligate aerobes are subject to high levels of oxidative stress.

Examples
Among organisms, almost all animals, most fungi, and several bacteria are obligate aerobes. Examples of obligately aerobic bacteria include Mycobacterium tuberculosis (acid-fast), Bacillus (Gram-positive), and Nocardia asteroides (Gram-positive). With the exception of the yeasts, most fungi are obligate aerobes. Also, almost all algae are obligate aerobes.

A unique obligate aerobe is Streptomyces coelicolor which is gram-positive, soil-dwelling, and belongs to the phylum Actinomycetota. It is unique because the genome of this obligate aerobe encodes numerous enzymes with functions that are usually attributed to anaerobic metabolism in facultatively and strictly anaerobic bacteria.

Survival strategies
When obligate aerobes are in a temporarily oxygen-deprived environment, they need survival strategies to avoid death. Under these conditions, Mycobacterium smegmatis can quickly switch between fermentative hydrogen production and hydrogen oxidation with either oxygen or fumarate reduction depending on the availability of electron acceptor. This example is the first time that hydrogen production has been seen in an obligate aerobe. It also confirms the fermentation in a mycobacterium and is evidence that hydrogen plays a role in survival as well as growth.

Problems can also arise in oxygen-rich environments, most commonly attributed to oxidative stress. This occurrence is when there is an imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants in the cells of the organism, largely due to pollution and radiation in the environment. Obligate aerobes survive this phenomenon by using the organism's immune system to correct the imbalance.

title: Obligate aerobe


text:
Intransitive verb

In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb, aside from an auxiliary verb, whose context does not entail a transitive object. That lack of an object distinguishes intransitive verbs from transitive verbs, which entail one or more objects. Additionally, intransitive verbs are typically considered within a class apart from modal verbs and defective verbs.

Examples
In the following sentences, verbs are used without a direct object:
 * "Rivers flow."
 * "I sneezed."
 * "My dog ran."
 * "Water evaporates when it's hot."
 * "You've grown since I last saw you!"
 * "I wonder how long it will be until I see you again after I move."

The following sentences contain transitive verbs (they entail one or more objects):
 * "We watched a movie last night."
 * "She's making promises."
 * "When I said that, my sister smacked me."
 * "Santa gave me a present."
 * "He continuously clicked his pen and it was incredibly annoying to me."

Some verbs, called ambitransitive verbs, may entail objects but do not always require one. Such a verb may be used as intransitive in one sentence, and as transitive in another.

! Intransitive !! !! Transitive
 * "It is raining." || || "It is raining cats and dogs."
 * "When he finished the race, he vomited." || || "When he finished the race, he vomited up his lunch."
 * "Water evaporates when it's hot." || || "Heat evaporates water."
 * "He's been singing all day." || || "He's been singing barbershop all day."
 * "You've grown since I last saw you." || || "You've grown a beard since I last saw you!"
 * }
 * "He's been singing all day." || || "He's been singing barbershop all day."
 * "You've grown since I last saw you." || || "You've grown a beard since I last saw you!"
 * }
 * "You've grown since I last saw you." || || "You've grown a beard since I last saw you!"
 * }

In general, intransitive verbs often involve weather terms, involuntary processes, states, bodily functions, motion, action processes, cognition, sensation, and emotion.

Valency-changing operations
The valency of a verb is related to transitivity. Where the transitivity of a verb only considers the objects, the valency of a verb considers all the arguments that correspond to a verb, including both the subject of the verb and all of the objects.

It is possible to change the contextually indicated sense of a verb from transitive to intransitive, and in so doing to change the valency.

In languages that have a passive voice, a transitive verb in the active voice becomes intransitive in the passive voice. For example, consider the following sentence:

In this sentence, "hugged" is a transitive verb with "Mary" as its object. The sentence can be made passive with the direct object "Mary" as the grammatical subject as follows:

This shift is called promotion of the object.

The passive-voice construction does not indicate an object. The passivized sentence could be continued with the agent:

It cannot be continued with a direct object to be taken by "was hugged". For example, it would be ungrammatical to write "Mary was hugged her daughter" to show that Mary and her daughter shared a hug.

Intransitive verbs can be rephrased as passive constructs in some languages. In English, intransitive verbs can be used in the passive voice when a prepositional phrase is included, as in, "The houses were lived in by millions of people."

Some languages, such as Dutch, have an impersonal passive voice that lets an intransitive verb without a prepositional phrase be passive. In German, a sentence such as "The children sleep" can be made passive to remove the subject and becomes, "They are slept." However, no addition like "... by the children" is possible in such cases.

In languages with ergative–absolutive alignment, the passive voice (where the object of a transitive verb becomes the subject of an intransitive verb) does not make sense, because the noun associated with the intransitive verb is marked as the object, not as the subject. Instead, these often have an antipassive voice. In this context, the subject of a transitive verb is promoted to the "object" of the corresponding intransitive verb. In the context of a nominative–accusative language like English, this promotion is nonsensical because intransitive verbs do not entail objects, they entail subjects. So, the subject of a transitive verb ("I" in I hug him) is also the subject of the intransitive passive construction (I was hugged by him). But in an ergative–absolutive language like Dyirbal, "I" in the transitive I hug him would involve the ergative case, but the "I" in I was hugged would involve the absolutive, and so by analogy the antipassive construction more closely resembles *was hugged me. Thus in this example, the ergative is promoted to the absolutive, and the agent (i.e., him), which was formerly marked by the absolutive, is deleted to form the antipassive voice (or is marked in a different way, in the same way that in the English passive voice can still be specified as the agent of the action using by him in I was hugged by him—for example, Dyirbal puts the agent in the dative case, and Basque retains the agent in the absolutive).

Ambitransitivity
In many languages, there are "ambitransitive" verbs, which can occur either in a transitive or intransitive sense. For example, English play is ambitransitive, since it is grammatical to say His son plays, and it is also grammatical to say His son plays guitar. English is rather flexible as regards verb valency, and so it has a high number of ambitransitive verbs; other languages are more rigid and require explicit valency changing operations (voice, causative morphology, etc.) to transform a verb from intransitive to transitive or vice versa.

In some ambitransitive verbs are ergative verbs for which the alignment of the syntactic arguments to the semantic roles is exchanged. An example of this is the verb break in English.

 * (1)  broke .
 * (2)  broke.

In (1), the verb is transitive, and the subject is the agent of the action, i.e. the performer of the action of breaking the cup. In (2), the verb is intransitive and the subject is the patient of the action, i.e. it is the thing affected by the action, not the one that performs it. In fact, the patient is the same in both sentences, and sentence (2) is an example of implicit middle voice. This has also been termed an anticausative.

Other alternating intransitive verbs in English are change and sink.

In the Romance languages, these verbs are often called pseudo-reflexive, because they are signaled in the same way as reflexive verbs, using the clitic particle se. Compare the following (in Spanish):

 * (3a) La taza se rompió. ("The cup broke.")
 * (3b) El barco se hundió. ("The boat sank.")
 * (4a) Ella se miró en el espejo. ("She looked at herself in the mirror.")
 * (4b) El gato se lava. ("The cat washes itself.")

Sentences (3a) and (3b) show Romance pseudo-reflexive phrases, corresponding to English alternating intransitives. As in The cup broke, they are inherently without an agent; their deep structure does not and can not contain one. The action is not reflexive (as in (4a) and (4b)) because it is not performed by the subject; it just happens to it. Therefore, this is not the same as passive voice, where an intransitive verb phrase appears, but there is an implicit agent (which can be made explicit using a complement phrase):

 * (5) The cup was broken (by the child).
 * (6) El barco fue hundido (por piratas). ("The boat was sunk (by pirates).")

Other ambitransitive verbs (like eat) are not of the alternating type; the subject is always the agent of the action, and the object is simply optional. A few verbs are of both types at once, like read: compare I read, I read a magazine, and this magazine reads easily.

Some languages like Japanese have different forms of certain verbs to show transitivity. For example, there are two forms of the verb "to start":

 * (7) 会議が始まる. (Kaigi ga hajimaru. "The meeting starts.")

 * (8) 会長が会議を始める. (Kaichō ga kaigi o hajimeru. "The president starts the meeting.")

In Japanese, the form of the verb indicates the number of arguments the sentence needs to have.

Unaccusative and unergative verbs
Especially in some languages, it makes sense to classify intransitive verbs as:
 * unaccusative when the subject is not an agent; that is, it does not actively initiate the action of the verb (e.g. "die", "fall").
 * Unaccusative verbs are typically used to show action or movement.
 * Examples:
 * I arrived at the party around 8 o'clock.
 * Do you know what time the plane departed?
 * How did the disease spread to this town so rapidly?
 * I sat on the train.
 * I was in a car accident and the other person appeared out of no where.
 * unergative when they have an agent subject.
 * Examples:
 * I am going to resign from my position at the bank.
 * I have to run six miles in the morning.
 * The icecube tray froze solid.

This distinction may in some cases be reflected in the grammar, where for instance different auxiliary verbs may be used for the two categories.

Cognate objects
In many languages, including English, some or all intransitive verbs can entail cognate objects—objects formed from the same roots as the verbs themselves; for example, the verb sleep is ordinarily intransitive, but one can say, "He slept a troubled sleep", meaning roughly "He slept, and his sleep was troubled."

Other languages
In Pingelapese, a Micronesian language, intransitive verb sentence structure is often used, with no object attached. There must be a stative or active verb to have an intransitive sentence. A stative verb has a person or an object that is directly influenced by a verb. An active verb has the direct action performed by the subject. The word order that is most commonly associated with intransitive sentences is subject-verb. However, verb-subject is used if the verb is unaccusative or by discourse pragmatics.

In Tokelauan, the noun phrases used with verbs are required when verbs are placed in groups. Verbs are divided into two major groups.

Every verbal sentence must have that structure, which contains a singular noun phrase, without a preposition, called an unmarked noun phrase. Only if a ko-phrase precedes the predicate, that rule may be ignored. [6] The agent is what speakers of the language call the person who is performing the action of the verb.[6] If a noun phrase that starts with the preposition e is able to express the agent, and the receiving person or thing that the agent is performing the action of the verb to is expressed by a singular noun phrase that lack a preposition, or unmarked noun phrase, the verb is then considered transitive.[6] All other verbs are considered intransitive.[6]

title: Intransitive verb