Billy Joel
Not an easy lot fell upon the pianist William Martin Joel: throughout his career he has released thirteen albums, eleven of which went platinum and multi-platinum. What on Earth should a man do with so much platinum?
Billy Joel’s first solo album titled «Cold Spring Harbor» (1971) turned out to be quite humble and didn’t make much of an impression on anyone, including the author himself. Mindful of the fact that practice makes perfect, Billy has worked on the bugs and two years later he released «Piano Man», which immediately became multi-platinum and got to the 27th spot in the U.S. charts. This album was followed by two rather successful, but commonplace recordings (in Billy Joel's own words), they were «Streetlife Serenade» (1974) and «Turnstiles» (1976). In 1977, like a bolt from the blue, an album titled «The Stranger» was released. More than ten million copies sold in the U.S. alone, the second place in the charts, 67th spot in the list of the best albums of the world according to the «Rolling Stones» magazine and the first nomination for a Grammy – it was all that. A year later, Billy Joel consolidated his success by releasing another multi-platinum album titled «52nd Street». «52nd Street» brought the author two Grammys at once and finally confirmed his reputation as an outstanding musician, singer and songwriter, as well as lifted him to the first line of the hit parade.
In 1980, Billy Joel stroke another blow to the platinum music industry with the album «Glass Houses», which exactly repeated the triumph of its predecessor by all points, except for a Grammy - it received only one award. «Glass Houses» could also be characterized as having a more rockish sound, as the musician was fed up with getting dubbed a pop singer.
Joel’s next album «The Nylon Curtain» (1982) could be considered nearly a disaster by the standards of his previous successes, and its mere two million U.S. sales spoke for themselves. This is one of the most “serious” albums Joel have released so far, as it tried to draw the public attention to some burning social issues.
«An Innocent Man» (1983) in its turn shifted the emphasis to the music of Billy Joel’s childhood, considering he was hugely influenced by classics and a few other styles. Its successful sales (more than seven million in the U.S.) have been provided mainly by the individual singles, rather than by the album as a whole.
Fairly calm and unhurried «The Bridge» (1986) deserved the attention it had received primarily due to the collaboration with the legendary Ray Charles, as well as Cyndi Lauper and Steve Winwood. In «Storm Front» (1989) and «River of Dreams» (1993) Billy Joel returned to the ready-made musical scheme, which ultimately resulted in the top spot in the charts. After the release of «River of Dreams» he had officially ceased to write new material. His last album «Fantasies & Delusions» (2001) was devoted to classical compositions exclusively and went unnoticed by the general public.
Meantime, Billy Joel is among the six most successful performers in the history of the U.S. music industry. He has six Grammy awards. On his account there are about forty recognized hits, which had ranked first in the charts. He has sold over 150 million albums worldwide.
