Billy Joel: The Life and Times of an Angry Young Man - Hardcover

Bordowitz, Hank

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0823082504 ISBN 13: 9780823082506

Publisher: Billboard Books, 2005

Synopsis

The definitive biography of a pop giant!



From the groundbreaking "Piano Man" to "Just the Way You Are" to "Allentown" to "Uptown Girl" and dozens of other chart toppers, Billy Joel’s music has provided the soundtrack to millions of lives. His songs are etched in our memories, and his live shows are breaking sales records everywhere. His albums have sold more than 100 million copies, his singles have sold millions more, and 33 Joel songs have appeared on Billboard’s Top 40 charts since 1974. Here at last is the definitive biography of the brilliant and volatile artist Billy Joel. Interviews with Irwin Mazur, Joel’s first manager, Artie Ripp, Joel’s first producer, plus many others from every part of the musician’s life offer revealing glimpses of a man known for his outsize personal struggles as well as his phenomenal gifts. With dramatic new information on Joel’s legal battles and his substance abuse, plus his live concerts and Broadway show Movin’ Out, Billy Joel: The Life and Times of an Angry Young Man is an exciting, up-to-the-minute look at one of the great musical geniuses of our times.




• Everyone knows Billy Joel's music

• Recent tour sold out all over the country

• The only bio of Billy Joel in print today

• Hardcover ISBN 0-8230-8250-4


From the Trade Paperback edition.

About this title

About the Author

Hank Bordowitz, a veteran music journalist, is the author of Bad Moon Rising, The Bruce Springsteen Scrapbook, The U2 Reader, and other books on rock artists. He has written rock criticism and commentary for hundreds of magazines and newspapers. He lives in Suffern, New York.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Reviews

This quick and dirty biography of the Long Island kid turned American pop icon is both surprisingly intimate and quite removed. Bordowitz (Bad Moon Rising: The Unofficial History of Creedence Clearwater Revival) adopts a pugnacious and somewhat grating man's man attitude from the start, a tone that admittedly dovetails quite nicely with Joel's scrappy youth. A journeyman musician from an early age (he was born in 1949), Joel played in almost every dive and piano bar that would have him, sleeping in Laundromats when he had to. After numerous false starts and even a suicide attempt, he finally hit the charts in the early 1970s and has had steady work in the upper reaches of the music industry ever since. It all ends somewhat uncertainly, with Bordowitz not seeming to know what to make of Joel these days, what with the star's tabloid drinking problems and Broadway show. Bordowitz didn't interview Joel, although he did speak to musicians Joel has worked with and former publicists and managers. He sticks mostly to the facts at hand, only occasionally overreaching. This work should please fans of the Piano Man who prefer their celebrity bios sans footnotes or deep analysis. Photos. (July)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Billboard Books
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0823082504
• ISBN 13: 9780823082506
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288