Billy Joel 
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States. His compilation album Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2 is one of the best-selling albums in the US.
Joel had Top 40 hits in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, achieving 33 Top 40 hits in the US, all of which he wrote himself. He is also a six-time Grammy Award winner who has been nominated for 23 Grammy Awards. He has sold more than 150 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time.
Joel was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999), and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2006). In 2001, Joel received the Johnny Mercer Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2013, Joel received the Kennedy Center Honors, the nation's highest honor for influencing American culture through the arts. With the exception of the 2007 songs "All My Life" and "Christmas in Fallujah", Joel stopped writing and releasing pop/rock material after 1993's River of Dreams. However, he continues to tour, and he plays songs from all eras of his solo career.
Billy Joel. (2017, May 10). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:07, May 12, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Billy_Joel&oldid=779678390
Appearances of Billy Joel in MAD
MAD Magazine #294 • USA • 1st Edition - New York
Rick Tulka's first crack at Billy Joel (and his then-wife Christie Brinkley), and his only crack at The Cars lead singer Ric Ocasek (and his still-wife Paulina Porizkova), came in this section of the Desmond Devlin article "MAD's Rock Quiz" (#294, April '90).
MAD Magazine #327 • USA • 1st Edition - New York
Copied and pasted from MAD Mumblings friend JJ Brent, who tells the story of how Billy Joel came to have a copy of MAD #327 (featuring the Tulka-Jacobs five-pager "MAD's Billy Joel Songbook") far better than I ever could: I brought him that copy. He was in Nashville to record a cover of "Light as the Breeze" for a Leonard Cohen tribute album. When he first came in, all of the musicians stood around the piano while Billy sat down to run through the song. I was standing just to his right. They were discussing the arrangement when Billy was wondering where to take it as he felt it was moving the same for too long. I suggested a modulation and he pointed at me and said "I like this guy." (They used the modulation suggestion.) After that we broke so he could be interviewed by Entertainment Tonight. During the interview they mostly stuck to the story about the album but tried to ask about something that Billy declined to comment. This was the actual day that the story broke of Christie Brinkley's affair where she'd earlier been in a helicopter crash on a skiing trip and it turned out that had her caught in a lie because she was with her lover. That was surely the reason ET came to interview him. Because it was much juicier than recording a cover tune for a tribute album. Once the interview was over I met Billy at the piano and showed him the MAD with his parodies in it. He hadn't seen it yet and loved it. He asked if he could keep the copy and I told him I brought it for him. We snapped the pics and he recorded the song with that copy of MAD on the piano. I still have an audio recording of the exchange. Back in the days before digital images and email I sent the letter and photos via snail mail to MAD at "Department #327" When asking for reader mail MAD notes in the address a department number that coincides with the issue in the reader's hand. I figure this is for quick sorting so they can print and reply to letters dealing with a specific issue sooner. I
MAD Magazine #420 • USA • 1st Edition - New York
Drew Friedman illustrated Billy Joel for the Piano Man's #5 slot in Desmond Devlin's list of "MAD's 50 Worst Things About Music," which ran in MAD #420 (August '02). In addition to cracking the line-up for the Desmond Devlin-Drew Friedman collaboration "MAD's 50 Worst Things About Music," Billy Joel also made Scott Bricher's collage-cover (between Bruce Springsteen and Jewel, just behind N'SYNC) for MAD #420 (August '02).
More Celebreties on MADtrash.com
