Joël Robuchon Küche

Billy Joel is a New York icon who became one of the most successful singer/songwriters of the late 20th century. He first rose to success in the mid-'70s with a melodic piano-led pop sound that merged Beatlesque hooks with elements of rock, jazz, Tin Pan Alley, and even Broadway. A Long Island native with a powerful voice and knack for storytelling, Joel first made the pop charts with "Piano Man," a rousing barroom singalong with a bittersweet old-timey feel that became his signature song. Released in 1977, his fifth album, The Stranger, launched him into superstardom, yielding four Top 40 hits including "Only the Good Die Young" and the Grammy Award-winning soft rock ballad "Just the Way You Are." By the end of the '70s, Joel was a major concert draw and one of the top American pop artists with a string of massive hits to his credit including "Movin' Out," "My Life," and "She's Always a Woman." His success continued into the '80s with albums like Glass Houses and An Innocent Man, the latter of which helped usher him into the MTV era with its "Uptown Girl" video starring supermodel Christie Brinkley. Released in 1985, Joel's double-disc Greatest Hits, Vols. 1 & 2 became a ubiquitous chart presence, eventually earning Diamond certification.