Billy Joel

William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949 in The Bronx, New York), better known as Billy Joel, is a globally-recognized pianist, singer and songwriter. He produced pop music hits from 1973 (beginning with the single "Piano Man") to his retirement from the genre in 1993. He has continued to tour occasionally (usually with Elton John) in addition to writing and recording classical music.

Driving problems and history of accidents

Joel has a history of car accidents, including several that occurred while he allegedly was under the influence of alcohol.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the spring of 1982 Joel had already begun studio work on his next album, The Nylon Curtain, when he was involved in a motorcycle accident; a woman in a car ran a red light and hit Billy Joel on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. His left wrist was broken and his hand badly damaged. When Billy Joel tells the story he says that the police officer on the scene read his license as "William Joel," put 2 & 2 together, and said, "Hey lady, you just ran over Billy Joel!" After the woman learned who she hit, she asked for his autograph. He offered to use his bleeding wrists to write her an autograph. Due to surgery, to insert a temporary pin, and a month in the hospital, production of the album was temporarily shut down while Joel recovered.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An additional obstacle for the singer was the breakdown of his marriage to Weber, an event partially blamed on the stress created by Weber's management of her husband's career.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By the end of 1982 the couple divorced. When she left, Joel's wife took half of the singer's assets with her. Even with such personal tragedies, creating the music for the album proved to be difficult, "You're always in the desert looking for the oasis and all that's out there with you is the piano--this big black beast with 88 teeth . . . 50,000 packs of cigarettes later, you start getting it."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 2003, Joel crashed his brand new 2003 Mercedes Benz Coupe into a tree. In 2004, he crashed his 1967 Citroën 2CV into a 90-year-old woman's house.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~