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Daily Mirror
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Billy Joel's tragic past - car crashes, addiction battle and suicide attempt
Billy Joel, also known as the Piano Man, is one of the most respected entertainers in the world - but the famous singer has faced his fair share of tragedy over the years Billy Joel, affectionately known as the Piano Man, has been a beacon in the music world for more than 20 years, selling millions of records and mesmerising listeners far and wide. Yet despite his monumental success, the famed rocker has grappled with numerous personal tragedies. The 76-year-old, who hails from The Bronx, New York, paved the way for music during the 1970s and 80s, becoming one of the most successful artists with hits like Uptown Girl, Piano Man, and We Didn't Start the Fire. Offering the chance to look back on his best performances and moments over the years, 'Billy Joel at the BBC ' will air tonight at 8.40pm, honouring the talented musician. But away from fame and success, Billy has been involved in several car crashes, confronted addiction demons, endured mental health issues, and eventually decided to step back from songwriting. When reflecting on what he cherishes most about his journey, Joel once remarked: "My ability to move on with life. I've had difficulties in my life, but it never stopped me from continuing." He added: "Troubles with business didn't stop me from doing business. I have no bitterness about anything, even people who rip me off, I let it go. I'm content with that I'm happy. I'm having a happy ending." The legendary 'Vienna' singer hasn't had an easy ride, literally – he's encountered alarmingly frequent mishaps behind the wheel, causing concern among his supporters over the years. Joel found himself embroiled in three separate motoring incidents in the early 2000s. His most recent scrape occurred in 2004, when he accidentally propelled his vehicle into a house in Long Island. Thankfully, there were no other victims, and the star emerged with nothing worse than a nick on his finger. In January 2003, Joel had a car crash in Sag Harbor, driving his Mercedes -Benz into a tree and sustaining minor head injuries, with paramedics whisking him off to hospital. Fast forward to June 2004, and the singer was involved in another prang in East Hampton, this time hitting a fire hydrant and post, again suffering minor injuries and declining medical help. Opening up about his battles with alcoholism, Joel admitted that his substance abuse issues, particularly with alcohol, were an obstacle to achieving his full potential. In a candid chat with he confessed: "If I couldn't be as good as I wanted to be, I'd just drown it with booze. I know I've got a reputation that I'm this depressed guy. I'm not - I'm a happy guy. I was in rehab twice." He remarked: "It was one of the best things I ever did." Joel also revealed to Howard Stern his forays into drug experimentation, noting that heroin was the drug that frightened him the most due to its addictive nature. This fear, he explained, fuelled the creation of his track Scandinavian Skies. The artist opened up about his mental health battles, including a suicide attempt detailed in his autobiography, which occurred during career struggles in his 20s. Despite the hurdles, Joel emerged as a musical legend, boasting 13 studio albums and an impressive repertoire of over 121 songs that resonated through generations. Yet, the hitmaker confided to the LA Times that he hung up his hat on creating new tunes, finding the process "excruciating". Joel elaborated: "I didn't have the same motivation anymore. You need inspiration to create good new music, and if you don't have it, don't bother. Get off the treadmill, for Christ's sake." Then last month, the iconic singer cancelled his gigs after he was diagnosed with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH) - a condition that leads to fluid accumulation in the brain. In a social media update, Billy explained to fans that it causes issues with hearing, vision and balance. In a further update this week, his close friend and radio host Howard Stern, 71, revealed that the Piano Man singer is "doing fine" as he relayed a message from the star. Speaking on his Sirius XM show, The Howard Stern Show, Howard said: "He does have issues, but he said, 'Yeah, you can tell people, I'm not dying'. He wants people to know that." Howard and Joel recently enjoyed a dinner together a few weeks before, and the radio presenter said: "He's got to deal with some medical stuff, but he was delightful." He added to co-host Robin Quivers that he had a "great conversation" with Billy and that the singer "brought out a guitar" while celebrating Billy's birthday in early May.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Billy Joel Reveals He Has a Rare Brain Disorder. Here's What It Means for His Tour and Future
1949–present Billy Joel has canceled all upcoming tour dates after being diagnosed with a rare brain disorder. The Grammy-winning singer announced on May 23 that he has normal pressure hydrocephalus, an uncommon condition characterized by fluid buildup inside or around the brain. According to a statement posted on Joel's Instagram, the disorder 'has been exacerbated by recent concert performances, leading to problems with hearing, vision, and balance.' Joel is undergoing physical therapy to help treat his condition and will refrain from performing while he recovers. 'I'm sincerely sorry to disappoint our audience, and thank you for understanding,' he wrote. The 76-year-old previously postponed his tour in March after having surgery for an undisclosed medical condition. It's unclear if his surgery was related to his newly disclosed diagnosis. The brain disorder affects memory, movement, and concentration, and can even lead to vision changes and hearing loss. Treatment typically includes surgical intervention and physical therapy. Five-time Grammy-winning musician Billy Joel is best known for the songs 'We Didn't Start the Fire,' 'Piano Man,' and 'Just The Way You Are,' as well as his acclaimed 1978 album 52nd Street. The native New Yorker's first album from 1971 disappointed, but he bounced back with a string of successful records later in the decade including Piano Man, The Stranger, and 52nd Street, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year. The Piano Man continued topping charts in the '80s and '90s with the albums Glass Houses, Storm Front, and River of Dreams. By 1999, his worldwide song sales had topped $100 million, and he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Several years later, in 2013, Joel received the Kennedy Center Honors. FULL NAME: William Martin JoelBORN: May 9, 1949BIRTHPLACE: New York, New YorkSPOUSES: Elizabeth Weber (1973–1982), Christie Brinkley (1985–1994), Katie Lee (2004–2009), and Alexis Roderick (2015–present)CHILDREN: Alexa, Della, and RemyASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Taurus William Martin Joel, best known as Billy Joel, was born in New York City's Bronx borough on May 9, 1949, to Howard and Rosalind Joel. Shortly after he was born, the family moved to a section of America's famous 'first suburb,' Levittown on Long Island. Although his father was an accomplished classical pianist, it was Joel's mother who pushed the young boy to study piano. He began playing at the age of 4 and showed an immediate aptitude for the instrument. By the time he was 16, Billy was already a pro, having joined his third band before he could drive. It wasn't long before the artist, inspired by the Beatles' iconic Ed Sullivan Show performance, committed heart and soul to a life in music. He dropped out of high school to pursue a performing career. Joel devoted himself to creating his first solo album Cold Spring Harbor, which was released in November 1971 when he was 22. The terms of Joel's contract with Family Productions turned out to be onerous, and the artist was unhappy with the quality of the album they released. It wasn't a commercial success. Disillusioned with trying to make it as a rock star, Joel moved to Los Angeles to fly under the radar for a while. In early 1972, he got a gig working as a lounge pianist under the pseudonym Bill Martin. His time playing at The Executive Room on Wilshire Boulevard would later be immortalized in his song 'Piano Man,' which describes a no-name lounge's down-and-out patrons. By late 1972, an underground recording of Joel's 'Captain Jack' had been released on the East Coast and was garnering positive attention. Executives from Columbia Records sought out the lounge player and gave Joel a second chance to become a rock star. With the momentum of a Top 25 single—'Piano Man'—to his name, Joel began recording new music, coming out with the Piano Man album in November 1973 and Streetlife Serenade in October 1974. Many of his songs related to a growing frustration with the music industry and Hollywood, foreshadowing his exit from Los Angeles in 1976. As the years passed, Joel's style began to evolve, showing his range from pop to the bluesy-jazz stylings that are now closely associated with his name. The Stranger (1977) was Joel's first major commercial breakthrough, landing him three songs in the Top 25 of the Billboard Hot 100. Among those was 'Just The Way You Are,' which netted Joel his first Grammy Awards in 1979. It won the coveted categories Song of the Year and Record of the Year. His next album would be an even bigger hit. In October 1978, Joel's sixth studio album arrived in 52nd Street. By mid-November, it reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, marking the musician's first chart-topping album. 'Big Shot,' 'Honesty,' and especially 'My Life' continued to rise on the mainstream singles chart in 1979, then Joel scored two more Grammys the following year as 52nd Street was named Album of the Year and its title track won for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. 'Honesty' was nominated for but didn't win Song of the Year. 'Glass Houses' secured Joel's fifth Grammy in three years when it won Best Male Rock Vocal Performance in 1981. Through the decade, Joel was crowned a hit-maker with smashes such as 'Tell Her About It,' 'Uptown Girl,' 'Innocent Man,' and 'The Longest Time.' He released two volumes of Greatest Hits and become the first American performer to unleash a full-scale rock production in the Soviet Union. While churning out hits, Joel also frequented the benefit circuit, performing with stars such as Cyndi Lauper and John Mellencamp to raise money for various causes. Notable nominations also continued to rack up for the musician. Glass Houses (1980), The Nylon Curtain (1982), and An Innocent Man (1983) were also in the running for Album of the Year at the Grammys. In 1989, on the heels of the successful single 'We Didn't Start the Fire,' Joel was presented with the Grammy Legend Award. His professional success continued unabated into the early 1990s, although his personal life became somewhat dramatic. After the release of River of Dreams in 1993 (another Grammy nominee for Album of the Year), Joel slowed his studio recordings but continued to tour alone and in combination with fellow artists such as Elton John. In 1999, the worldwide sales of his songs passed the $100 million mark. Also that year, Joel was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by his idol, Ray Charles. Several years later, in 2013, Joel received the Kennedy Center Honors. In the early 2000s, Joel found himself in and out of rehab, struggling with an ongoing alcohol addiction. In 2007, Joel released the single 'All My Life,' his first song with original lyrics in 13 years. In 2015, 'Piano Man' was inducted into the National Recording Registry. Although semi-retired in terms of recording new songs, Joel has continued to tour and branch out as an artist. He has composed a number of classical songs and even reworked older ballads with an orchestral backing. Throughout the years, Joel's songs have acted as personal and cultural touchstones for millions of people, mirroring his own goal of writing songs that 'meant something during the time in which I lived... and transcended that time.' When Joel's residency at Madison Square Garden was announced in 2013, his devoted fans proved how much the singer's music resonated with them. As the first music franchise in MSG's history, Joel broke records; his monthly concerts sold out every time, grossing over $480 million in sales. The final concert of the long-running residency was on July 25, 2024. Still, Joel kept up his performance schedule. In March 2025, he underwent surgery for an unnamed medical issue that forced a five-month pause in his shows. Before his Billy Joel in Concert Tour could resume, however, the musician revealed in May that he was diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus, a rare disorder that causes spinal fluid to build up in or around the brain. Joel cancelled his remaining tour dates to focus on his recovery, which includes physical therapy. Joel has been married to Alexis Roderick, his fourth wife, for nearly a decade. The couple dated for roughly six years before tying the knot at their annual Fourth of July party on Long Island in 2015. Andrew Cuomo, then the New York governor, presided over the nuptials. Before getting married, Joel and Roderick announced they were expecting their first child together. They now share two daughters: Della, born in August 2015, and Remy, born in October 2017. Joel's eldest child is his daughter Alexa, whom he had with his second wife, supermodel Christie Brinkley. Alexa was born in December 1985, the year after her parents were married. Her middle name is Ray after Joel's idol Ray Charles. Joel and Brinkley divorced in 1993 after nine years together. The musician's other marriages were with Elizabeth Weber Small, from 1973 to 1982, and TV personality and journalist Katie Lee, from 2004 to 2009. As of March 2025, Joel has an estimated net worth of $250 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. [Music is] an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music. Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! You Might Also Like Nicole Richie's Surprising Adoption Story The Story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard and Her Mother Queen Camilla's Life in Photos
Hype Malaysia
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hype Malaysia
'Piano Man' Billy Joel Steps Back From Touring After Surprising Brain Disorder Diagnosis
Billy Joel is a legendary star in the music industry, known for his songs 'Piano Man,' 'Uptown Girl,' 'We Didn't Start the Fire,' and countless other iconic works. Earlier this year, he began his tour across the US and was planning to continue spreading his musical talent in June after a small hiatus. However, on 24th May (Saturday), the singer revealed on an Instagram post that he has a brain disorder that can be critical if not treated carefully. So, on behalf of his doctor's orders, he was told to take a break from his performance to focus on his recovery. The artist will be undergoing specific physical therapy that will treat his condition and give him a chance at performing again. According to the official statement, Billy was diagnosed with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH), a brain disorder that occurs when excess cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) builds up in the brain's ventricles, causing them to enlarge. If left untreated, it can lead to symptoms such as difficulty walking and cognitive issues, including memory loss or confusion, making it unsafe for the legendary musician to perform as he normally would. With over 150 million records sold, the icon is among the best-selling music artists in history, so it's no surprise that many of his fans were eagerly anticipating his concerts this year, but sadly, their dreams of seeing him perform live on stage may have to wait a little longer. The 76-year-old expressed his apologies to fans, writing in his post: 'I'm sincerely sorry to disappoint our audience, and thank you for understanding.' Although saddened by the news, fans have continued to show their love and support for the Grammy winner, wishing him a speedy recovery and reassuring him that they'll be waiting when he returns. His daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, expressed her gratitude to the public for their kindness and patience towards her father, also offering insight into Billy's dedication to physical therapy as he works to get back into shape and perform again. Christie Brinkley, Billy's ex-wife, posted a reel on her Instagram wishing him a speedy recovery while also highlighting how kind and wonderful of a man he is, even behind the screen; 'We all want you back in that white hot spotlight, you're OUR piano man,' she wrote in her post. We would also like to extend our best wishes to Billy Joel and hope to see him make a grand return to the stage once he has fully recovered. Here's his full statement: His ex-wife's Reel after hearing the news: Sources: Instagram (1)(2)(3), CNN Zaima Humaria contributed to this article
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Billy Joel reveals tragic diagnosis as he cancels all tour dates through next year
The Piano Man is taking a break. Billy Joel, 76, has canceled all tour dates amid a new health diagnosis. The 'Uptown Girl' singer revealed the shocking news via social media on Friday, saying he has been diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus. The disorder happens when cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) builds up inside the skull and presses on the brain, disrupting cognitive functioning. Joel's condition has become worse due to his recent concert performances, 'leading to problems with hearing, vision, and balance,' his lengthy Instagram announcement read. The doctor has ordered the 'We Didn't Start the Fire' hitmaker to 'refrain from performing during this recovery period' as Joel is undergoing specific physical therapy under his medical team's instructions. NPH is a rare condition that affects about 0.2% of people between the ages of 70 and 80 and around 6% of those over 80. When the body can't circulate or reabsorb CSF properly, it accumulates and can cause pressure inside the skull. Permanent damage can happen if CSF keeps accumulating, forcing the brain to compress. Symptoms are similar to dementia patients and include difficulty walking, cognitive issues like memory difficulties or emotional changes, and urinary incontinence. In some cases, NPH is reversible. Joel's diagnosis doesn't mean he's out for good, though. The announcement ended on a positive note, with his team telling fans that Joel is 'thankful for the excellent care he is receiving and is fully committed to prioritizing his health. He is grateful for the support from fans during this time and looks forward to the day when he can once again take the stage.' The five-time Grammy winner also released a statement to his fans. 'I'm sincerely sorry to disappoint our audience, and thank you for understanding,' Joel shared. Those with tickets to any of Joel's canceled shows, which include dates in New York, New Orleans, Toronto, Santa Clara, California, Salt Lake City, Washington, DC, and Liverpool, will get automatically refunded to the original form of payment used to purchase the tickets. The Post reached out to Joel's rep for additional comment. The 'New York State of Mind' singer had already postponed several tour dates in March due to a 'medical condition.' 'The current tour will be postponed for four months to allow him to recover from recent surgery and to undergo physical therapy under the supervision of his doctors,' a statement from his team on March 11 read. At the time, the music man said that 'while I regret postponing any shows, my health must come first.' He added, 'I look forward to getting back on stage and sharing the joy of live music with our amazing fans. Thank you for your understanding.' Joel has had a rough year. In February, the star fell during his concert in Connecticut, and the accident was caught on video by a fan. Joel appeared to stumble while on the stage before falling backward and landing on his side. Despite the blunder, he recovered and continued on with the show. Joel's wife, Alexis Roderick, has also struggled with her health in recent months and spoke out about suffering from endometriosis earlier this month. The condition, in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus, causes Roderick chronic pain, which she was forced to deal with while taking care of her and Joel's two young children while Joel was on tour. The pair, who married in 2015, have two daughters: Della, 9, and Remy, 7. Roderick opened up to Fox News Digital about how Joel supported her as she struggled to get a diagnosis. 'He's extremely supportive,' she shared. 'So picking up where I leave off and covering my deficits during that time was huge. We're just always researching — he'll email me articles like, 'Did you know that this happens with endometriosis?' 'Never in a million years would I think that he would be sending me that kind of stuff, but when you're watching someone suffer, you pick up. You have to. It's what we do. We're a family.' Besides Roderick, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has been married to Elizabeth Weber, Katie Lee and Christie Brinkley. Joel and the supermodel were married from 1985 to 1994, and they have one daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, 39. Brinkley discusses hot topics of their marriage in her memoir 'Uptown Girl,' including those affair rumors. She also blamed his drinking for the end of their relationship. Just last year, Joel ended his record-breaking 10-year residency at Madison Square Garden. He played his last show in July, marking his 150th concert at the legendary venue.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Era of Thrash
'It almost feels like we're trying to rebuild everything from scratch,' Michael Wieder told me. The company he co-founded, Lalo, sells sleekly designed baby gear, much of it made in China. In his first weeks in office, Donald Trump increased the tariff rate on most of the company's imported goods by 20 percentage points. In April, he jacked the rate up to 145 percent. Lalo had to stop bringing in products from overseas: Paying the tariff could have bankrupted the company. Trump dropped the rate down to 30 percent this month, but Wieder anticipates falling sales and a year of disruption. Ask any corporate executive or entrepreneur about the past five months, and they will tell you a story like Wieder's. Companies are struggling with unstable tariff rates, bond-market swings, canceled federal contracts, rising import costs, and visa challenges. They're unsure about the economic outlook. They're unsure about tax rates. They're unsure about borrowing costs. Last week, Moody's downgraded American debt, meaning it has less confidence in the country's growth and capacity to manage its deficits. This is a year of chaos, so dramatic in its upheaval that it sometimes obscures how weird things have been, and for how long. Over the past half decade, businesses have contended with a pandemic, a recession, an inflationary spiral, and a trade war. They have negotiated swift changes in consumer behavior and input prices and interest rates, as well as significant shifts in policy more broadly, from Joe Biden's New Deal Lite to Donald Trump's autarkic austerity. John Lettieri, the president of the Economic Innovation Group, a Washington-based think tank, calls it 'the era of thrash.' The American economy has weathered that chaos. Despite reams of studies indicating that uncertainty dampens investment and slows growth, today corporate profits are high, the jobless rate is low, productivity has climbed, and new businesses are blossoming. But that resilience may be wearing off, and we may have reached the end of our ability to withstand the disruptions. Is this spell of uncertainty so unusual? Even after talking with a dozen business owners and experts in recent weeks, I came away unsure. A lot seemed to have happened since COVID. Then again, reciting five years of major events might feel like singing the lyrics to 'We Didn't Start the Fire' regardless of which five years you picked. As it turns out, economists have ways of measuring uncertainty, by looking at newspaper coverage, stock-market gyrations, and corporate communications. Those measures show that, sure enough, the first half of the 2020s has proved remarkably unstable and destabilizing. 'We've been through a period of elevated uncertainty,' Steven Davis, of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, told me. Right now, we are in 'a big surge, relative to what was already a higher-than-average base.' Economists also have ways of measuring the impact of such periods on businesses and the economy writ large. Uncertainty about a country's growth path reduces consumption and investment, depressing industrial production. Uncertainty about inflation reduces bank lending, cutting down on business expansion and formation. Uncertainty about tariffs weakens supply chains and limits the number of businesses joining a market. The economies of countries with stable policy environments tend to grow faster than those of unstable countries. Given that research, you'd think that the past five years would have been dull ones for entrepreneurship and growth. The opposite is true. Americans are forming roughly a million more businesses a year now than they were before the pandemic, despite higher borrowing costs. Corporate profits are fatter than they were before the pandemic. Stock prices—a measure of investor optimism about future earnings—have been volatile, but are up 96 percent over the past five years. 'My biggest takeaway from the last five years of a one-after-another series of different kinds of shocks and uncertainties is an appreciation for the astonishing resilience of the U.S. economy,' Lettieri told me, a note of awe in his voice. Business experts pointed to a few reasons that the chaos leading up to 2025 did not strangle investment or damage growth. For some firms, the coronavirus crisis provided an opportunity by disrupting stodgy markets and upending consumer behavior. Lalo, for instance, benefited from the surge in interest in ordering online, which let it compete with big-box stores that otherwise might have boxed it out. (Now chains such as Target carry the brand.) The pandemic 'played to our benefit,' Wieder told me, and the company managed to navigate the surge in inflation and borrowing costs that followed it. That was, in large part, because the broader governmental response to the pandemic proved to be such a boon for firms and individuals. The Federal Reserve pushed borrowing costs to close to zero. The Trump and Biden administrations spent roughly $4 trillion on support to families and companies, canceling student loans, sending out checks, covering payroll, supporting the parents of young children, and shoring up the coffers of state and local governments. Even as interest rates rose, the private-credit markets remained robust. 'It's easier to absorb an uncertainty shock when underlying economic conditions are strong than when they're weak,' Davis said. From 2020 to 2024, the underlying economy proved notably strong. Today's uncertainty is far more intense and widespread than many businesses anticipated. Wieder and his co-founder had braced for some turbulence when Trump reclaimed the White House. They assumed tariffs on Chinese imports would rise, increasing costs on young families—even if goods like strollers and car seats were excluded from tariffs, as they were during Trump's first term. They hoped to preempt consumer sticker shock by lowering prices in advance. 'It was a really big bet for us,' Wieder said. 'We were protecting our consumer and trying to get ahead of it.' But there was no getting ahead of what followed. The economy is more vulnerable and less resilient than it was a couple of years ago. Interest rates are higher, personal-debt levels have climbed, job growth is slowing, and inflation remains an issue. 'A lot of lending was made during a time of very easy credit,' Diane Swonk, the chief economist at the accounting firm KPMG, told me. 'Now many of those businesses and consumers are being squeezed. Loans that were once renewed easily are now being denied or subjected to far stricter standards.' The political instability of the country, whipsawing between two polarized parties, has also left businesses shaky. And now the White House is proactively destabilizing the policy environment, ignoring court orders and usurping Congress's authority over spending. When it comes to tariffs, the Trump administration is making 'arbitrary executive decisions that are in some cases probably unlawful, and perhaps even unconstitutional,' Davis noted. During the pandemic, the country had a democratic government that made reasonable choices in response to a horrific tragedy. Now it has a more and more despotic government making bad choices for no reason. The past five years didn't prepare us for this. Article originally published at The Atlantic
