The single became a huge hit, reaching number one and inspiring history students across America. Storm Front marked a significant change for Joel -- he fired his band, keeping only Liberty DeVito , and ceased his relationship with producer Phil Ramone , hiring Mick Jones of Foreigner to produce the album.
Storm Front was another hit for Joel , reaching number one in the U. During , Joel undertook a major U. In January, the court awarded Joel two million dollars in a partial judgment against Frank Weber , and in April, the court dismissed a 30 million dollar countersuit. Following the Storm Front world tour, Joel spent the next few years quietly. In , he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Fairfield University in Connecticut. In the summer of , Joel filed a 90 million dollar lawsuit charging his former lawyer Allen Grubman of fraud, breach of contract, and malpractice; in October of , the two parties settled their differences out of court.
Joel returned in the summer of with River of Dreams , which entered the charts at number one and spawned the Top Ten title track. In , he gave a series of lectures at a variety of American colleges. A new venture as a children's author began in with the release of his first book, Goodnight, My Angel: A Lullaby.
The year-old Joel married the year-old Katie Lee that same year and was making tabloid headlines again in March of when he checked into the Betty Ford Clinic for treatment of alcohol abuse. After this brief burst of activity Joel returned to touring regularly, his most notable performance being the closing shows at the legendary Shea Stadium in July On the heels of this live album came word that Joel was penning a memoir, but the book was quickly scrapped after the announcement.
Over the next couple of years, Joel transitioned toward performing in public frequently and, along with it, started to give more interviews. In , he toured the United Kingdom and then performed at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn for his first New York solo headlining gig in five years.
It wouldn't be his last: he soon announced that he'd have a regular residency at Madison Square Garden, performing 21 concerts in alone with an option to play there indefinitely. In addition to his New York shows, Joel also toured elsewhere in the U.
He promoted these shows and the release of A Matter of Trust: The Bridge to Russia -- an expanded version of his live album Kohuept , containing two CDs of live performances from that Russian tour in addition to a documentary about the whole endeavor -- with a number of interviews, highlighted by a live "town hall" radio show with Howard Stern.
That year, Joel also contributed to the tribute album The Art of McCartney , which wound up being his last new studio recording in the s.
The rest of the decade was devoted to family life -- between and , he had two daughters with his fourth wife, Alexis Roderick -- and playing regular concerts on the eastern seaboard, which he occasionally supported with promotional interviews.
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What do you think about his presidency so far? I think maybe this was the shock that we needed to shake people out of lethargy. Are you going to get involved at all in the election? I find a lot of people resent celebrities touting their candidate. That can actually turn more people off than it can bring more people in. I admire people like Springsteen, who gets up there and touts a candidate. My experience has always been that people resent it when they go to see you do a show and you get up on a soapbox and spout politics.
What made you do that? I was pissed off. So this president missed the boat. He had a great chance to say something meaningful and he blew it. Do you hope to sing with Elton John again before the end of his farewell tour? I would if he asked me to, sure. We worked together for 16 years, and those were good shows. I thought they were good value. I would work with him again, absolutely. What TV shows do you watch? My taste in TV shows is pretty boring to most people.
I watch the History Channel or the Military Channel or documentaries or the news. I just watched Casablanca with Humphrey Bogart again, great movie. But you sit down at the piano and write melodies just for yourself? You always learn something new whenever you create. I may come up with an idea that could become a song. I may write a movie soundtrack. I may write a symphony. Jesse Dittmar. It wasn't long before the artist, inspired by the Beatles' iconic Ed Sullivan Show performance, committed heart and soul to a life in music.
He dropped out of high school to pursue a performing career, devoting himself to creating his first solo album Cold Spring Harbor , which was released in The terms of Joel's contract with Family Productions turned out to be onerous and the artist was unhappy with the quality of the album they released. It wasn't a commercial success. Disillusioned with trying to make it as a rock star, Joel moved to Los Angeles to fly under the radar for a while. In early , he got a gig working as a lounge pianist under the pseudonym Bill Martin.
His time playing at The Executive Room on Wilshire Boulevard would later be immortalized in his song "Piano Man," which describes a no-name lounge's down-and-out patrons. By late , an underground recording of Joel's "Captain Jack" had been released on the East Coast and was garnering positive attention.
Executives from Columbia Records sought out the lounge player and gave Joel a second chance to become a rock star. With the momentum of a Top 20 single "Piano Man" to his name, Joel began recording new songs and albums, coming out with Streetlife Serenade in Many of his songs related to a growing frustration with the music industry and Hollywood, foreshadowing his exit from Los Angeles in As the years passed, Joel's style began to evolve, showing his range from pop to the bluesy-jazz stylings that are now closely associated with his name.
The Stranger was Joel's first major commercial breakthrough, landing him four songs in the Top 25 of the U. Billboard charts. While churning out hits, Joel would also frequent the benefit circuit, performing with stars such as Cyndi Lauper and John Mellencamp to raise money for various causes. His professional success continued unabated into the early s, although his personal life became somewhat dramatic. After the release of River of Dreams , Joel slowed his studio recordings but continued to tour alone and in combination with fellow artists such as Elton John.
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