Born in 1949, William Joseph Martin Joel had humble beginnings, both personally and musically. At the age of four he began to develop an interest in the classical instrument he is known for today. As he grew, Billy Joel took piano lessons up until the day he began to notice girls. His fascination with the instrument always continued though. He dropped out of high school just short of graduation to follow his love of music. His early projects proved less than successful; he bombed in failed bands like the Echoes, the Hassels and Attila. At one point, Joel attempted to be a lounge pianist and also a composer of commercial jingles. Finally, Joel decided to do it on his own and became the infamous

Life was never easy, and nor would it ever be. Joel went through dramatic changes when troubles raised with his producer and Management Company. This caused Joel to seek the help of producer Phil Ramone who was known for his work with such stars as Barbra Streisand, Paul Simon and Frank Sinatra. The change in focus gave Joel the creative jumpstart he needed and resulted in the brilliant 1977 album The Stranger. The album contained the Top 40 singles "Just the Way You Are," "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," "She's Always a Woman" and "Only the Good Die Young." The album went platinum and reached No. 2 on the charts in no time at all.

Joel's inspirations and motivations for writing music vary between different ideas and different emotions. "Sometimes I'm writing to a particular person and I want to convey an emotion. And usually it's a woman. All my life I've been writing for women. But they seem to like that. Girls like that. They like it when you write stuff for them. Or sometimes there's something that's troubling me that I have to work out. Or sometimes something for a friend, but it's usually something based on a personal relationship or personal thoughts." However, Joel doesn't want his fans to analyze his songs too much. “I'm not trying to make any grand, eloquent socioeconomic statements with thes

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Billy Joel, Sometimes I'm, Christie Brinkley, Steel Company, Vladimir Horowitz, Columbia Records, Frank Sinatra, Finally Joel, Martin Joel, NPR Programming, piano lessons, rogers hammerstein’s, top 40, rise top, throughout career, billy joel, classic born,