By: Katie Romano, Jaclyn Ruggirello, Augusta Falletta ... - Home
By: Katie Romano, Jaclyn Ruggirello, Augusta Falletta ... - Home
By: Katie Romano, Jaclyn Ruggirello, Augusta Falletta ... - Home
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<strong>By</strong>: <strong>Katie</strong> <strong>Romano</strong>, <strong>Jaclyn</strong> <strong>Ruggirello</strong>, <strong>Augusta</strong> <strong>Falletta</strong>,<br />
Brianna Davis, Michelle Gowen & Alex DeVries
“I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive<br />
expression of humanity. It's something we are all<br />
touched by. No matter what culture we're from,<br />
everyone loves music.” - Billy Joel
Born: William Martin Joel<br />
“Piano Man”<br />
May 9, 1949<br />
~ Born in the Bronx but grew up on<br />
Long Island in Levittown. Went to<br />
school in Hicksville.<br />
~ Father was a classically trained<br />
Pianist.<br />
~ Started taking piano lessons at 4.<br />
Billy hated to practice and learn theory.<br />
~As a teen, he took up boxing.<br />
~Teachers refused to let him graduate<br />
due to his many absences from<br />
school.<br />
~Joel’s father divorced Joel’s<br />
mother when Billy was 8.<br />
~ Billy Joel did not serve in<br />
Vietnam because he was the sole<br />
provider for his mother and sister.
~ Billy Joel discovered his love for<br />
music again when he was in high<br />
school.<br />
~At the age of 14, he became a<br />
member of the band, Echos.<br />
~ The band was later renamed to The<br />
Lost Souls.<br />
~ In 1967, he joined The Hassles<br />
which produced two records; The<br />
Hassles & Hour of the Wolf.<br />
Attila<br />
The Hassles<br />
~ He formed a duo, Attila, which lasted<br />
only a few months.<br />
~ With his failed attempts in music and<br />
a terrible break-up, Billy Joel attempted<br />
to commit suicide, but failed.<br />
Although Billy put out four records, his fifth<br />
one, set the stage for his career…..
Track List:<br />
1. Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)<br />
2. The Stranger<br />
3. Just the Way You Are<br />
4. Scenes From an Italian Restaurant<br />
5. Vienna<br />
6. Only The Good Die Young<br />
7. She’s Only a Woman<br />
8. Get It Right The First Time<br />
9. Everybody Has A Dream<br />
“The Stranger sets it up to say:<br />
here’s this versatile songwriter.<br />
And he’s the undiscovered guy<br />
who is the overnight sensation<br />
after seven years.” – Phil<br />
Ramone, producer<br />
This is the fifth album by Billy<br />
Joel. However, it is the first<br />
album with a Top 10 hit. If this<br />
album had not done well, the<br />
record company would have<br />
dropped him. This album<br />
launched Joel’s career.
1. Piano Man<br />
2. We Didn’t Start The Fire<br />
3. Uptown Girl<br />
4. Only The Good Die Young<br />
5. It’s Still Rock ‘n’ Roll To Me<br />
6. The Longest Time<br />
7. Just The Way You Are<br />
8. She’s Always a Woman<br />
9. Pressure<br />
10. Scenes From An Italian<br />
Restaurant<br />
11. New York State of Mind<br />
12. My Life<br />
13. You May Be Right<br />
14. Movin’ Out (Anthony’s<br />
Song)<br />
15. The River of Dreams<br />
16. Capitan Jack<br />
17. She’s Got A Way<br />
18. The Downeaster “Alexa”<br />
19. Allentown<br />
20. Big Shot
~As most everyone knows, Billy Joel is<br />
also known as the Piano Man. But did you<br />
ever wonder how he got the nickname?<br />
~ The nickname comes from his first album<br />
with Columbia Records, Piano Man. When<br />
he was writing the songs for this album, he<br />
was working in Los Angeles at a bar. He<br />
moved to L.A. to avoid the lifetime record<br />
contract he made with Family Productions,<br />
the releaser of Cold Spring Harbor. While at<br />
the bar, he wrote about his experience there<br />
and the people he met. The song became a<br />
hit when Joel became a hit, in 1978. At the<br />
end of every show, Billy Joel plays this<br />
song.
The Beatles<br />
Dave Brubeck<br />
Beethoven<br />
George Gershwin<br />
Phil Spector<br />
Fats Domino
Ray Charles was a big musical influence for Billy Joel.<br />
Ray Charles was a pianist that achieved the same goal<br />
Joel did, making the piano a popular instrument. The two<br />
recorded the song “Baby Grand” together, featured on The<br />
Bridge. This song emulates the jazz style of Ray Charles<br />
and the powerful lyrics of Billy Joel. The song is about<br />
Joel’s daughter Alexa Ray, named after Ray Charles.<br />
Late at night<br />
When it's dark and cold<br />
I reach out<br />
For someone to hold<br />
When I'm blue<br />
When I'm lonely<br />
She comes through<br />
She's the only one who can<br />
My baby grand<br />
Is all I need<br />
In my time<br />
I've wandered everywhere<br />
Around this world<br />
She would always be there<br />
Any day<br />
Any hour<br />
All it takes<br />
Is the power in my hands<br />
This baby grand's<br />
Been good to me<br />
I've had friends<br />
But they have slipped away<br />
I've had fame<br />
But it doesn't stay<br />
I've made fortunes<br />
Spent them fast enough<br />
As for women<br />
They don't last with just one man<br />
But my baby grand<br />
Will stand by me<br />
They say that no one's gonna play this on the radio<br />
They said the melancholy blues were dead and gone<br />
But only songs like these<br />
Played in minor keys<br />
Keep those memories holding on<br />
I've come far<br />
From the life I've strayed in<br />
I've got scars<br />
From those dives I've played in<br />
Now I'm home<br />
And I'm weary<br />
In my bones<br />
Every dreary one night stand<br />
But baby grand<br />
Came home with me
~ When most people think of “rock<br />
‘n’ roll”, they think of guitars and<br />
drums. Billy Joel challenged this<br />
idea when he sat down at his<br />
piano and started to play rock ‘n’<br />
roll.<br />
~ Although Billy Joel is not the first<br />
person to use piano in the genre of<br />
rock ‘n’ roll, he made the piano a<br />
staple of bands.<br />
~ Another way Bully Joel influenced<br />
music is by showing his musical<br />
diversity. He uses orchestration, dowop,<br />
jazz, pop, classical, rhythm and<br />
blues, romantic ballads, soul, acapella<br />
numbers, writes about history, the<br />
places he loves and of course love<br />
itself.
Movin' Out tells the story of five friends in 1960s suburbia. Eddie, Tony, and James<br />
are three good-natured high school guys looking to make their mark on the world.<br />
James is going steady with Judy, and they decide to get engaged. Eddie’s going<br />
out with Brenda, but she soon ends their volatile relationship, and she and Tony fall<br />
in love. Then the guys head off to Vietnam and James is killed in action. Eddie and<br />
Tony come home, but their lives along with Brenda and Judy’s are totally changed.<br />
The remaining four try to put their lives back together, but they are lost and<br />
damaged, particularly the self-destructive Eddie. However, after this rocky period,<br />
they are all able to turn their lives around and begin the next chapters in their<br />
stories.
"I look in the mirror and say, 'Well, you ain't Cary Grant,<br />
but you ain't in the junkyard, either.' But I'm happy with<br />
my life. Very happy. It's nothing at all like I pictured it<br />
would be."<br />
“I am no longer afraid of becoming lost,<br />
because the journey back always<br />
reveals something new, and that is<br />
ultimately good for the artist.”<br />
“I have a theory that the<br />
only original things we<br />
ever do are mistakes.”<br />
“If you are not doing<br />
what you love, you<br />
are wasting your<br />
time.”<br />
His goal is to make music that “meant<br />
something during the time in which I<br />
lived...and transcended that time.”<br />
“I love telling stories, and I love hearing a good story<br />
being told. Songwriting is fascinating in that it<br />
incorporates two things that I love to do: create a<br />
story and write the music to it. Then I get to sing it<br />
and play the piano on top of that. My job allows me<br />
to do four things that I absolutely love. It doesn't get<br />
much better than that. “
His song "Just the Way You Are"<br />
released in 1977 is one of the most<br />
covered and radio played songs of<br />
all-time.<br />
He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of<br />
Fame in 2004. It is placed outside Pantages<br />
Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.<br />
In 1991, Joel<br />
collected the<br />
Grammy Living<br />
Legend award.<br />
Billy Joel enjoys collecting<br />
motorcycles. One of his motorcycles<br />
is located at the Hard Rock Café in<br />
New York City.<br />
Inducted into the Rock and<br />
Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.<br />
One of the few artists<br />
who have hits in the<br />
70s, 80s & 90s.<br />
Writes all of his songs single-handedly.<br />
Formed the Long Island Boating<br />
Company in 1996.<br />
First American rock star to tour Russia<br />
with a fully staged show.<br />
First rock act to play Yankee<br />
Stadium.
Strings, Woodwinds, Brass, Percussion, Piano, Male Vocalist,<br />
Synthesizer, Harmonica, Electric Guitar, Electric Bass, Drums….Very<br />
reminiscent of Aaron Copland, sounds like a Western movie Theme<br />
Strings, Woodwinds, Brass, Percussion, Piano, Synthesizer,<br />
Harmonica, Electric Guitar, Electric Bass, Drums…Add to the sound<br />
of a movie score, do not overpower the artist<br />
Allegro, 4/4 Time, Upbeat American Tempo<br />
Male Vocalist & at times Piano, Reminiscent of a folk singer<br />
Synthesizer; piano, strings percussion; harmonica; guitar,<br />
woodwinds & brass; verse; musical interlude; verse; musical<br />
interlude; chorus; verse; musical interlude; call & response with<br />
orchestra & piano; brief musical interlude; verse; musical interlude;<br />
chorus; brief musical interlude; verse; musical interlude; call &<br />
response with orchestra & piano; brief musical interlude
According to Billy Joel, “this song is<br />
an exercise in cowboy movie<br />
impressionism. Totally inaccurate<br />
historically; the themes are pure east<br />
coast suburban romanticism. Elmer<br />
Bernstein shot in hot blood by the<br />
infamous Newman brothers, Alfred<br />
and Lionel, avenging the murder of<br />
Aaron Copland. * <strong>By</strong> the way, “Billy” in<br />
this case is not me, myself and I. He<br />
still tends bar in Oyster Bay.”<br />
Lionel Newman<br />
Alfred Newman<br />
Aaron Copland<br />
Elmer Bernstein