50 facts about Billy Joel: has had 33 Top 40 hits and 23 Grammy nominations

Billy Joel has had 33 Top 40 hits and 23 Grammy nominations since signing his first solo recording contract in 1972. Learn 50 things about musician Billy Joel.

1. Having sold more than 150 million records, Billy Joel ranks as one of most popular recording artists and respected entertainers in the world.

2. Throughout the years, Joel's songs have acted as personal and cultural touchstones for millions of people, mirroring his own goal of writing songs that "meant something during the time in which I lived ... and transcended that time."

3. Billy Joel has had 33 Top 40 hits and 23 Grammy nominations since signing his first solo recording contract in 1972.

4. In 1990, he was presented with a Grammy Legend Award.

5. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992, Joel was presented with the Johnny Mercer Award, the organization's highest honor, in 2001.

6. In 1999 he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and has received the Recording Industry Association of America Diamond Award, presented for albums that have sold over 10 million copies.

7. In November, 2014, Billy Joel will receive The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, which honors living musical artists whose lifetime contributions in the field of popular song exemplify the standard of excellence associated with George and Ira Gershwin, by promoting the genre of song as a vehicle of cultural understanding; entertaining and informing audiences; and inspiring new generations.

8. Also in November, 2014, Billy will receive the once-in-a-century ASCAP Centennial Award.

9. December 2013, Madison Square Garden announced Billy Joel as the first-ever music franchise of "The World's Most Famous Arena."

10. Joining the ranks of The Garden's other original franchises - including the New York Knicks, Rangers and Liberty - Billy Joel kicked off this franchise at The Garden performing a show a month, as long as there is demand, starting January 27, 2014.

11. Since his first show in 1978, Billy has performed 46 shows at Madison Square Garden, including an unprecedented 12 consecutive sold-out shows that have earned Billy a spot among the Garden greats with a banner raised in his honor.

12. Also in December 2013, Billy Joel received the 36th Annual Kennedy Center Honor, one of the United States' top cultural awards. At The ceremony, Don Henley sang the classic ballad, "She's Got a Way." Also paying homage was Garth Brooks, who performed a medley of "Allentown" and "Goodnight Saigon" and Rufus Wainwright who performed two Joel classics, "New York State of Mind" and "Piano Man." Brendan Urie performed "Big Shot." Tony Bennett introduced the tribute.

13. Joel held his first ever indoor Irish concert at the O2 in Dublin on November 1, 2013.

14. He also returned to the UK for the first time in seven years and played two arena dates in Manchester and Birmingham plus a very special - more intimate - show at London's Hammersmith Apollo.

15. In October 2013, Billy Joel held a surprise concert on Long Island at The Paramount (Huntington, NY) to benefit Long Island Cares.

16. In 2013, Billy Joel held tens of thousands of visitors to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in the palm of his hand. It was Joel's second full-length show in three years He went to New Orleans fresh from Sydney, Australia, where he played a full set at the Stone Music Festival.

17. Joel and his band prepared a similar array of Joel's huge collection of hits for Sydney and New Orleans, and mixed in some handpicked tunes specific to the venue at hand. Joel told the crowd, "we know how you felt" since last year's Hurricane Sandy, referring to Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans in 2005. "We're trying to rebuild. We're taking inspiration from you guys."

18. New York's quintessential son, Billy Joel, performed six songs at the historic 12.12.12 The Concert For Sandy Relief, joining other music greats including Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen and more to raise awareness and money to help those affected by Hurricane Sandy.

19. Billy Joel was honored by Steinway & Sons with a painted portrait that hangs in Steinway Hall in Manhattan.

20. Joel, who has been a Steinway Artist for almost 20 years, is the first non-classical pianist to be immortalized in the Steinway Hall collection.

21. In 2010, Joel released "The Last Play at Shea. The intersecting histories of a city, a team, and a music legend are examined in a documentary feature film that charts both the ups and downs of the New York Mets and the life and career of Long Island native Billy Joel, the last performer to play Shea Stadium before its demolition in 2008.

22. In 2004, Billy Joel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, adding another milestone to his extraordinary career.

23. "Movin' Out," a Broadway musical based on Joel's music choreographed and directed by Twyla Tharp, was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and took home two including Best Orchestrations--Billy's first Tony Award win--and Best Choreography.

24. In addition to his Grammy Awards, Joel has earned three Awards For Cable Excellence and has received numerous ASCAP and BMI awards including the ASCAP Founders Award and the BMI Career Achievement Award and, in 1994, was given the 1994 Billboard Century Award.

25. Among his many other awards and honors, Billy Joel has been given a Doctor of Humane Letters from Fairfield University (1991), a Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of Music (1993), and a Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University (1997) and a Doctor of Music from Southampton College.

26. A longtime advocate for music education, he first began holding "master class" sessions on college campuses more than 20 years ago, giving sessions at colleges across the country and around the world.

27. In addition, he has held classes as a benefit for the STAR Foundation (Standing for Truth About Radiation) and to establish the Rosalind Joel Scholarship for the Performing Arts at City College in New York City.

28. Billy Joel has launched an ongoing educational initiative to provide seed money, musical scholarships, and endowments to a variety of East Coast colleges, universities and music schools.

29. For his accomplishments as a musician and as a humanitarian, Billy Joel was honored as the 2002 MusiCares Person Of The Year by the MusiCares Foundation and the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.

30. 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.

31. William Martin Joel was born in the Bronx on May 9, 1949, and was raised in the suburb of Hicksville, New York.

32. Joel's father, Howard Joel, a classical pianist, was born in Germany, the son of a Jewish merchant and manufacturer, Karl Amson Joel. Howard emigrated to Switzerland and later to the United States (via Cuba, as immigration quotas for German Jews prevented direct immigration at the time) to escape the Nazi regime.

33. Joel's mother, Rosalind, was born in England to Jewish parents, Philip and Rebecca Nyman. Rosalind and Howard Joel divorced in 1957.

34. Billy Joel has a sister, Judith, and a half-brother, Alexander Joel, a classical conductor in Europe, who was the chief musical director of the Staatstheater Braunschweig from 2001 to 2014.

35. Billy reluctantly began piano lessons at an early age, at his mother's insistence, his teachers including the noted American pianist Morton Estrin and musician Timothy Ford.

36. As a teenager, Joel took up boxing so he could defend himself.

37. He boxed successfully on the amateur Golden Gloves circuit for a short time, winning twenty-two bouts, but abandoned the sport shortly after his nose was broken in his twenty-fourth boxing match.

38. Joel attended Hicksville High School until 1967, but he did not graduate with his class.

39. He had been playing at a piano bar to help his mother make ends meet, which interfered with his attendance; specifically, he missed a crucial English exam, as he had been playing a late-night gig at a piano bar the evening before.

40. Though Joel was a comparatively strong student, at the end of his senior year, he did not have enough credits to graduate.

41. Rather than attend summer school to earn his diploma, Joel decided to begin a career in music: "I told them, 'To hell with it. If I'm not going to Columbia University, I'm going to Columbia Records, and you don't need a high school diploma over there'."

42. Joel eventually signed with Columbia. In 1992, he submitted essays to the school board and was awarded his diploma at Hicksville High's annual graduation ceremony, 25 years after leaving.

43. Joel's first wife was Elizabeth Weber Small. Weber and Joel married in 1973, and she became his manager. His song "She's Always a Woman" was inspired by her. She was also the inspiration for the waitress character in "Piano Man".

44. Joel married his second wife, Christie Brinkley, aged 31 at the time, in March 1985. Their daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, was born December 29, 1985.

45. Alexa was given the middle name of Ray after Ray Charles, one of Joel's musical idols.

46. On October 2, 2004, Joel married his third wife Katie Lee, aged 23 at the time. At the time of the wedding, Joel was 55. Joel's daughter, Alexa Ray, then 18, served as maid-of-honor. Joel's second wife, Christie Brinkley, attended the union and gave the couple her blessing.

47. Lee works as a restaurant correspondent for the PBS show, George Hirsch: Living it Up!. In 2006, Katie Lee hosted Bravo's Top Chef. She did not return for a second season, instead going on tour with her husband.

48. Joel's mother, Rosalind Nyman Joel, died on July 13, 2014, at the age of 92. She was the inspiration for "Rosalinda's Eyes" from his 52nd Street album.

49. On July 4, 2015, Joel married his fourth wife, Alexis Roderick, an equestrian and former Morgan Stanley executive, at his estate on Long Island with the Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, presiding over the ceremony.

50. The couple had been together since 2009. On August 12, 2015, the couple's daughter, Della Rose Joel, was born.

Source: billyjoel.com, Wikipedia.org