‘I grew up in a nothing place called Hicksville, Long Island, but I used to come here. In the kitchen, his eight-month-old daughter, Della Rose, is scooting around on her walker. My first daughter Alexa was born when we lived there.’ ‘That was my old house, where I lived with Christie Brinkley. He takes me to the gazebo and points across the bay to a brick house. Money isn’t something Joel needs to worry about any more – he’s worth an estimated $180 million, having sold more than 150 million records. I had no money and had to get up at 5am in the middle of the winter.’ Can you believe that? Oysters was all I was eating when I was on the boats. ‘I used to work on oyster boats and look up at this house and hate the guy who was living here with his inherited money,’ he says, ‘and now it’s mine. The bay is sparkling, with boats bobbing up and down in the water. A reconstructed Arts and Crafts mansion, sweeping views, manicured gardens and a pet cemetery. It is like visiting the Gatsby home – beautiful beyond belief. And then he’s gone, taking a limo across town to the awaiting helicopter and on to his personal helipad at his home in Oyster Bay, Long Island, not far from where he was born.Ī couple of days later I go there to meet him.
When it comes to Piano Man at the end, his voice is totally shot. The crowd roar till they are hoarse, happy to sing along to hits like She’s Always A Woman To Me, New York State Of Mind and Uptown Girl – songs that have made him a household name. The rock star and the supermodel, that was a thing for a while,' he said ‘She inspired the whole album – I went back to being a teenager again. Joel with ex-wife Christie Brinkley in 1983. Joel hasn’t produced any new music in 23 years, and on stage he says to the crowd, ‘At least you don’t have to listen to any new s***!’ ‘So I said, “To hell with this, the front row is not on the market.” I send my road crew to the cheap seats and they pick who they want in front – the cutest girls they can find. ‘I got tired of seeing these gold-chain guys with their babes sitting at the front going, “entertain me”,’ he says in a gnarly, Gangs Of New York voice. The front row is always pretty girls, he tells me. The crowd itself is 20s up – younger than you’d expect. Once on stage he’s exuberant and makes the giant venue feel like a living room – he holds the record for selling out 36 shows there in three years, more than any other artist. Billy Joel is in a tailored suit and skull tie. We are backstage at Madison Square Garden, New York. But when things didn’t work out, I never blamed my wife or myself,' said Billy Joel (pictured with his fourth wife Alexis) 'It has to be a pretty unique arrangement to find the right person for a lifetime.
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