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William Martin Joel. nicknamed the Piano Man after his first major hit an signature song of the same name, has led a successful music career since the 1970’s.
Here we go again. Wikipedia says that Joel took part in two - short lived bands. the one time group called the Hassles and the other group known as Atilla, but he also played with another group called the Echoes,who later became the Emeralds and the Lost Souls. Joel also played in sessions for tv Ads, including Chubby Checker and for Bachman Pretzels. He attended Hicksville High School until 1967,but he did not graduate with his class, he had missed a crucial English exam after playing a late night gig at a piano bar the evening before. Not having enough credits to graduate he decided to go into his musical career,still in 1992 he submitted essays to the school board in lieu of missed exams, they were excepted and he was awarded his high school diploma 25 years later. In his teens he played on a demo version of “Leader of the Pack”, which became a major hit for the group “The Shangri-las. One thing of interest, while he is known as the piano man, the song “A Matter of Trust”, is the only song where Joel plays guitar while in concert. Another interesting fact about Joel is that after being bullied by some mean kids he decide to take up boxing lessons and went on to win some Golden Gloves amateur fights. He gave up the sport after a broken nose. Though he wasn’t a performer yet, he wanted to be in the crowd for the Jimi Hendrix performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, but he decided to leave after a day and a half because of the lack of bathrooms got too much for him to stand. Find out more about Billy Joel on KWMC’S 1490 AM Classic hit station. And as usual all known facts and stories of interest are by Wendy Johnson and all shows are produced by Javier Martinez Sr. |
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