1. Billy Joel May 9, 1949

2. Who is Billy Joel? Real name is William Martin Joel Born May 9, 1949 in Bronx, New York. Hometown: Levittown, NY Born to Howard and Rosalind Joel Raised with a musically talented family

3. Earlier Years of Joel’s Life Joel lived with his mother after his parent’s divorce in 1957 while his Dad moved to Austria Joel began piano lessons at a very young age Joel also had a short-lived career in boxing. He worked instead of going to class leaving him without a diploma due to a missed final exam. “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.”

4. Achievements & Awards Earned his diploma 25 years later in 1992 from Hicksville High School. Doctorate of Humane Letters from Fairfield University (1991) Doctor of Music from Burklee College of Music (1993) Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University (1997) Doctor of Music from Southhampton College (2000) Doctor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University (2006)

5. Achievements & Awards Cont. Doctor of Musical Arts from Manhattan School of Music (2008) Doctor of Music from Stony Bridge University (2015) Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999) Awarded MusiCares Person of the Year (2002) Awarded 5 Grammys  Album of the Year: 52 nd /street  Song of the Year and Record of the Year: “Just the Way Your Are”

6. And you guessed it! More Awards… Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2005) Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2006) First musician to perform at the Yankee Stadium Has played in many venues including the Giants Stadium and Madison Square Gardens. And more… Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2005) Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2006) First musician to perform at the Yankee Stadium Has played in many venues including the Giants Stadium and Madison Square Gardens. And more…

7. Influences Such bands as The Beatles and The Four Seasons After watching The Beatles play on the Ed Sullivan Show, he wanted to play rock as a career. Pop genre "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'."

8. Before the Fame Played piano for The Echos at 16 years old Played piano on records for Shadow Morton Played on demos for Shangri-Las Archie Ripp: Joel’s first producer.  Received Co-Producer credit on Cold Spring Harbour Joined the group The Hassles Attila- Duet with Jon Small (former drummer of The Echos)  Ended with the affair between Joel and Small’s wife, Elizabeth. Married Elizabeth and later divorced July 20, 1982. The Hassles

9. Personal Life Married Christie Brinkley (1985)  They had a daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, born December 1985.  Divorced in 1994 Married Katie Lee  She was 23 while Joel was 55 years old  Separated June 2009 Married Alexa Roderick (2015)  Started dating 2009  Fourth wife  Had another daughter, Della Rose Joel, born in August. Billy and Alexa Roderick

10. Personal Life Cont. Known to have struggled with substance abuse and alcoholism History of depression  Tried to commit suicide after Elizabeth Small first broke up with him right after the affair. However, Jon Small saved his life despite the affair.  “Tomorrow is Today”  Based on his struggle and attempt at suicide  “You’re Only Human (Second Wind)  Help prevent teen suicide  Based on his struggle and attempt at suicide

11. “Piano Man” First single Joel released with Columbia Records Released: November 2, 19734 5 min, 41 seconds in length Second track on his album Piano Man Featured on many “Greatest Hits” albums Based on his time spent playing at the piano bar, The Executive Room, in Los Angeles (1972)  Used alias, Bill Martin, to avoid Artie Ripp, from the Family Productions Company.  Family Productions company made a marketing error, so Joel ended contract with help of Columbia Productions

12. Joel’s signature song. Known to be played as the finale at every concert Characters are based on real bar patrons: John- Bartender; worked during Joel’s shift. Paul- Actual real estate agent; spent many nights in the bar writing his novel. “The waitress is practicing politics”- refers to Elizabeth, Joel’s first wife. Others include a business man and a US Navy sailor. Band at the time: Guitarist, Al Hertzberg, replaced by Don Evans. Bassist, Larry Russell, replaced by Patrick McDonald, who was later replaced by Doug Staymeyer. Rhys Clark: Drummer. Tom Whitehorse: Banjoist and pedal steel player. Johnny Almond: Saxophone and keyboard. Toured United States and Canada Made appearances on some music broadcasts. Piano Man Cont.

13. Currently Joel’s No. 1 hit on ITunes. Featured on Rolling Stone’s “ 500 Greatest Songs of All Time,” ranking at 421. Featured on Rock Band 3 video game. Played during the New York Met’s 8 th inning this past season. #25 in the Billboard Top 40 (1974), Canada was #10. Played more on the radio after The Stranger was released (1977).  Has been a great “oldie” since that year! Originally thought to be too long.  Edited- Two verses cut and combined  Later, it was cut again from 4:33 to 3:05 “It was a beautiful song, But it ran too long. If you’re gonna have a hit, Then you’ve gotta make it fit, So they cut it down to 3:05.” -Billy Joel, The Entertainer

14. 0:00 Introduction – The song has a jazzy piano solo at the beginning. Written in major mode and we can tell the song is written in ¾ time meter. 0:13 – Harmonica enters. 0:30 – Verse 1 – Joel begins to sing about the patrons in the bar that he's playing at. This lets the audience know that this song is about these regulars and how they don't have a very great chance at achieving something great with their lives, however he is there to sing them a melody to let them forget about their lives for the time being. This specific verse is about an older man, who is asking him to help boost his mood. From his voice accompanied by the instruments, we know that this is homophonic in texture. The timbre of this song is easy to distinguish as well. It seems as though the only instruments played are the harmonica and the paino along with Joel's voice. 1:13 – Chorus - Joel sing's “La La La” and then moves into the chorus. The chorus was written as a melody so that others may sing along to it. This is also where form plays a major role from this song being repetitious and easy to remember. His syllables accented from the words being placed on top of notes as if to give the song a bouncy rhythm or tempo as illustrated below: sing US a SONG, you're THE piANo MAN. sing US a SONG toNIGHT. we're ALL in THE mood FOR a MELoDY, AND you've GOT us feeLING alRIGHT.

15. 1:55 – Verse 2 – John is who this verse is about. He is the bartender who works during the same shift as Joel. He has dreams of aspiring to be a movie star, but just like everyone else, he seems to be stuck in this piano bar. 2:30 – Joel sing's only the “La La La” melody with a semi-minor tone in his voice, however the music is still being played in major harmony. Verse 3 2:43 – Verse 3 – This verse is referring to Paul, who is a real estate agent and is trying to write a novel to help him succeed in life and in this scenario, he is speaking to Davy, who was in the Navy. This verse is played in major. 2:59 – Harmonica and piano playing. 3:09 – This verse is actually about his former wife, Elizabeth, which isn't mentioned in the song but can be known through research. She is the waitress practicing politics. This verse is also played in major tone. 3:26 – Short piano solo, played in major. 3:40 – Chorus – This chorus is just as the previous chorus. It is sung in majr harmony. 3:59 – Cuts back to the harmonica and piano playing. 4:10 – Verse 4 – Speaks about how the crowd is coming to see him to forget about life for a while. He crescedos his voice, when saying “Sing us a song, you're the paino man.” 4:57 – Chorus – He sings this chorus with extra force while both the harmonica and the piano come to a quiet ending.

16. “Moving Out (Anthony’s Song)” Written and performed by Billy Joel. Originally on the album, The Stranger, in 1977.  Certified Multi-Platinum Album  No. 2 in the charts  Grammy for Best Record of the Year (“Just the Way You Are”)  Named “70 th Greatest Album of All Time” by the Rolling Stone.  Phil Ramone- Producer from Columbia Records; helped produce “The Stranger” and “The Bridge” (1986).  US Billboard Top 100- No. 14  Top 25 Billboards- No. 17

17. “Moving Out (Anthony’s Song)” Cont. Characters are fictional Refers to working-class immigrants who put materialistic things before happiness. In 2014, Joel told Howard Stern: "I've seen friends of mine who were pressured into taking a job to take care of the family, and then they never fulfill themselves - they're doing it because that's where you're supposed to go. Everybody's got something they love to do or they should be doing - a talent. I see people wasting their lives, not putting their talent to that purpose so they could have stuff: you get a Cadillac and then you're fine."

18. “Moving Out (Anthony’s Song)” Cont. Became a Broadway musical production in 2002, called Moving Out. Joel received a Tony Award for the Orchestration. The musical production closed in 2005  Remained on tour until 2007. https://www.youtube.com/wat ch?v=s_hjHDcX0qY

19. 0:00 – Introduction – This intro has a fast pace letting us know that that the rhythm is up-beat. Its also written in major mode. 0:08 - “Ooh ooh, uh huh,” begins the song with the soft voice of Joel. The vocal accompaniment with the instruments lets us know that the texture is homophonic. 0:15 – Verse 1 - “Anthony” is the first word actually spoken. Joel emphasizes his words to make them clear to his audience. The word heart attack ends with “ack” repeated in quick sequence, letting this be catchy to the audience. 0:44 – Chorus – in this chorus he sings it in a lower voice than the rest of the song and the words are more drawn out. He sings the word “I'm” very slowly then quickly sings “moving out.” 1:11 – Verse 2 - This verse begins with “Sergeant O'Leary” and the word “Cadillac” also ends in the quick repetition of “ack.”

20. 1:40 - Bridge – This section begins with a chorus-like sound, and then the verse differs from the first two, because the word “mind” is repeated instead of the ending “ack.” 2:13 – Continuation of Bridge – this seems to be where the chorus is, however its different due to the words, but the tempo is slowed down much more as well as his singing dragging out the notes. The drums also accentuate the rhythm by slamming on the first of every four beats. 2:51 – The sound of a Chevrolet Cadillac begins to rev its engine. 3:03 – Joel sings ”I'm moving out” aggressively by letting his voice crescendo.

21. “Big Shot” Released on 52 nd Street album  Ranking as the 2 nd hit single  Released January 1979  Ranked No. 352 on the Rolling Stone’s list of “500 Greats Albums.”  First album made on CD by Sony (1982)  Song lasts 4:03 on album  Billboards Hot 100- ranked No. 14  Featured on Rock Band 3  Grammy for Album of the Year  Presented to producer, Phil Ramone, from Columbia9 Records  He passed away and the Grammy was given to Joel (2003)

22. “Big Shot” cont. Thought to have been written about a bad date with Bianca, Mick Jagger’s first wife o "I read that the song 'Big Shot' is said to be about a date I had with Bianca Jagger. I never had a date with Bianca Jagger” –Billy Joel (2006) Joel told Howard Stern that he wrote the song after he had dinner with both Bianca and Mick Jagger, saying that he thought of Mick Jagger singing this to Bianca. (November 2010) Based on a man upset with a hungover woman, who did a lot of shameful things while drunk and high.

23. 0:00 – Introduction – This song begins with the instruments, guitar and drums. We get the feeling that this song will be in compound division. And soon Joel enters while playing the piano. 0:10 – Verse 1 - “Well” is the first word, kind of drawn out to emphasize the beginning of the song. He sings of someone who thinks a lot of themselves and looks down on others while talking bad about them behind their back. His choice of words and the pace that they are sung allow the listener to catch onto the melody rather quick. By his choice of adding lyrics to his song, he has created a homophonic texture. We can also distinguish the timbre in the song; there are vocals done by Joel, as well as piano, guitars, saxophone, and drums. 0:37 – Chorus – He emphasizes the words “Big shot.” and talking about in what ways the said person is conceited and tried to seem “cool.” He also lets his choruses have a melody in which its catchy and easy to sing along with.

24. 1:16 – Verse 2 – The first word is also drawn out as well as he last word before we goes to another sentence. Although this happens, on every other sentence. 1:42 – Chorus – again, he emphasizes the words “Big shot.” 2:09 - After this chorus, he sings “Woah..” while there is a jazzy tune playing in the background with what sounds like a saxophone. 2:22 – Bridge – The words in this section of the song is different as well as the rhythm. The beat slows down briefly. Joel really emphasizes “Big shot” in a sort of sarcastic way. 3:03 – Repeat of 2:09 3:12 – The drums hit on every single beat, changing the rhythm to simple meter for a brief moment. The trumpets also play a major harmony in the background. This runs until the end of the song. His decision in making the repetition of the words “Big shot” has created a form in which a person can hear lots of repetition and similarity in his song.

25. Experience Billy Joel “Piano Man”- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxEPV4kolz0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxEPV4kolz0 “Moving Out (Anthony’s Song)”- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxEPV4kolz0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxEPV4kolz0 “Big Shot”- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEea624OBzMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEea624OBzM

26. References: http://www.billyjoel.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Joel http://www.biography.com/people/billy-joel-9354859 http://www.allmusic.com/artist/billy-joel-mn0000085915 http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2015/08/12/billy-joel-welcomes- baby-girl/31537187/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2015/08/12/billy-joel-welcomes- baby-girl/31537187/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEea624OBzM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxEPV4kolz0