BOOKS ABOUT BILLY JOEL
For sheet music songbooks, click here.

Billy Joel (Oct. 2014)
Fred Schruers

After "The Book of Joel: A Memoir" was cancelled (see bel0w), author Fred Schruers found another publisher.  See this article.   His new biography, simply titled "Billy Joel," was published in October 2014.  It is the first authorized biography of Billy Joel and a good read.

Even though I have read several Billy Joel biographies and countless articles about him, this book still captivated my interest.  I knew what was going to happen, but was still interested in how it would turn out.  Schruers also does a good job of deftly integrating stories about Billy's personal and professional life with Billy's songs, without using that tool as a crutch.  The initial chapter on the Joel family history (prior to Billy being born) and their trials and tribulations in Nazi Germany is fascinating if you are a history buff like me, but I can see how others might find it a bit dense.   One wishes there were more interviews with Billy's former bandmates and ex-wives and girlfriends, but that does not detract from this excellent book.  It will no doubt become the definitive biography of Billy Joel.   

According to Amazon. com:  "In Billy Joel, acclaimed music journalist Fred Schruers draws upon more than one hundred hours of exclusive interviews with Joel to present an unprecedented look at the life, career, and legacy of the pint-sized kid from Long Island who became a rock icon.  Exhibiting unparalleled intimate knowledge, Schruers chronicles Joel’s rise to the top of the charts, from his working-class origins in Levittown and early days spent in boxing rings and sweaty clubs to his monumental success in the seventies and eighties . . . "

See this web interview with Fred Schruers about the book.

The paperback edition of the book comes out in November 2015, just in time for Christmas.

---

The Book of Joel:  A Memoir (June 14, 2011)
Billy Joel & Fred Schruers

Publication of this book was cancelled.  It was originally planned to come out June 14, 2011. Amazon.com description:   "This soul-searching chronicle offers fans an unprecedented glimpse into the heart and soul of one of the world’s best entertainers . . . here the beloved songwriter offers a serious and reflective memoir of his life from early hard times to top-of-the-world successes, including the ups and downs of romance (and his marriage to Christie Brinkley), insights about fatherhood, and reflections on both the joys and the burdens of superstardom.  . . . "

---

The Words and Music of Billy Joel 
(July 31, 2011)
(The Praeger Singer-Songwriter Collection) 
Ken Bielen

This book sounds very good, but there are no Amazon reviews.  The imprint Praeger has published a series a these books that include a biography, song lyrics, and commentary, for several other artists including Tom Waits, Carole King, Sting, Bob Marley, Ice Cube, Paul Simon, and others.  The KISS version has not come out yet.

From Amazon.com:   "The Words and Music of Billy Joel examines this influential musician's songs in detail, exploring the meaning of the lyrics and placing Joel's artistry in a regional and cultural context.  Covering work that ranges from Joel's recordings with the Lost Souls to his classical compositions, the book focuses on the dozen studio albums of popular music released between 1971 and 1993. A bibliographic essay is included, as are both a discography and a filmography. There is also a special focus on the interpretation of Joel's songs by other recording artists."

---

Billy Joel:  The Life and Times of an Angry Young Man (Revised and Updated 2011) (originally published 2005)
Hank Bordowitz

This book was originally released in 2005, and an updated version was released in April 2011.  The new version is shown to the left, the earlier version is below it.  That's right, they use the older photo for the newer version.

This is a reasonably good biography of Billy Joel by music writer Hank Bordowitz.  Most of the information in the book is derived from other written sources, but it is still a well-organized and written summary of Billy's life and music.  It reads well and quickly, and is relatively well-balanced, neither overly praising Billy nor condemning him.   I like this book better than the Mark Bego biography (below) though both are pretty much comparable.   Neither, however, have any direct interviews with Billy Joel like the Fred Schruers book that came out in 2014.

---

Billy Joel;  The Biography (2007)
Mark Bego

This is a decent biography about Billy Joel.  Bego has churned out  biographies of many musicians, but like Bordowitz's biography (above), this one suffers from not interviewing Billy Joel himself.  Still, Bego does interview former Billy Joel bandmates and sheds light on the breakup of the band after 1987, when only Liberty Devitto remained.  Can't beat the price too.

---

I Go To Extremes: The Billy Joel Story (2007)
Bill Smith

I have mixed feelings about this book.  On the one hand, it has some interesting tidbits about Billy's early years that the other books lack; on the other hand, it has some very awkward writing and cringe-inducing phrases and metaphors.  The book does not seem to have been edited carefully.  Here is a review. 

While it has some interesting photos I had not seen before, it also has one photo that purports to be a photo of The Hassles prior to Billy joining the group, but it's just a photo where Billy is cropped out of the view.  Originally, I believe the book was only available in the UK though the writer is apparently from Long Island and involved in the fishing industry.  He knows Billy Joel through that connection.  But as the review of the book states "[u]nfortunately, being a tuna fisherman of non-litigious temperament is not necessarily the ideal qualification for writing a book, or indeed for writing anything at all."   If you are a casual Billy Joel fan, I would not recommend this book, but if you are a fanatic or collector, then it may be worth it.

---

Billy Joel:  From Hicksville to Hitsville (1985)
Jeff Tamarkin

This is a short picture biography of Billy Joel.  It is actually a decent overview of Billy's career up until 1984, just before he released Greatest Hits I and II.  It doesn't go into too much detail, but it's good for the average teen fan, which seems to be the target audience.  The books neglects to mention The Nylon Curtain entirely, which is an odd oversight.

---

Billy Joel (1979)
Peter Gambaccini

For a while, this was the only biography of Billy Joel published which was more than just a summary overview of his career.  This book actually gives a fairly insightful discussion of each of Billy's songs through 52nd Street, and provides a reasonably entertaining depiction of his life.  It's not an in-depth biography, but a good read.  It also has some nice photos of Billy and Elizabeth Joel.  I still have an old dog-eared copy of it that I read a million times as a young teen.

---

OTHER BOOKS

All For Billy Joel (2006)
Rachel Furtado

I have not yet read this book, other than the preview on Amazon.com, but it sounds like a very charming book about one fan's admiration for Billy Joel since she (the fan) was a little girl.  The author eventually meets the Piano Man one day as an adult.  This is on my to-do list of books to buy and read.  It's only 50 pages, could make a good gift for the Billy Joel fan who has everything.

---

New York State of Mind (2005)
Billy Joel & Izak Zenou (illustrator)

This is a children's picture book based on Billy's classic song "New York State of Mind."  It comes with a CD of the song too.  It is very nicely done.

---

Goodnight, My Angel:  A Lullabye (2004)
Billy Joel & Yvonne Gilbert (illustrator)

Similar to "New York State of Mind" (above), this is a picture book based on Billy's song "Lullabye: Goodnight, My Angel" that was written for his daughter Alexa.  It comes with a CD of the song too.  I bought this for my daughters and used to play the song to them at  night when they were young. 

Return to Top