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Began in group "Echoes" (later known as the "Lost Souls"). Also a member of the Hassles (who performed at Westchester N.Y.'s famous Riviera Lounge in 1967) and Attila. Inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame 1992. Seven consecutive albums made the Top 40. Daughter, with Christie Brinkley, Alexa Ray Joel, was named after piano legend Ray Charles. Billy went by the name Bill Martin when he played the Executive Room in LA while running from his contract after the failure of Cold Spring Harbor. His song "Just the Way You Are" released in 1977 is one of the most covered and radio played songs of all-time. Writes all of his songs single-handedly. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. His and Twyla Tharp's hit musical "Movin' Out" received 10 Tony nominations for the 2003 Tony Awards including: Best New Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical, Best Choreography, and Best Orchestrations. Out of the 10 nominations "Movin' Out" received two Tony's, one went to Tharp for Best Choreography, and the other went to Joel himself for Best Orchestrations. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 2004. It is placed outside Pantages Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. One of the very few artists to have top ten hits in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Family Records, the first label that Joel signed with back in the early 70's, had a lifetime clause in their contract with Joel. This clause came back to haunt Joel when he signed with major label Columbia Records a few years later. Up until the end of the 1980's, every Joel album sold by Columbia, 25 cents would be paid to Family as a royalty for each album sold. Also, Columbia had to put the Family name, logo, and copyright on every Joel album they produced. Son of Rosalynd Nyman, born in England to an agnostic Jewish family, and Howard Joel, a Jewish Holocaust survivor from Germany, whose family owned the fourth largest mail order company in Germany before dispossessed by the Nazis. After his divorce, Howard returned to Europe and married again. Billy's half-brother is the famous concert pianist Alexander Joel. Called "Joe" by Christie Brinkley because when she first met him, she wasn't sure whether Billy Joel was just his first name and she decided that he looked like he could be a Joe. In the late '70s with the worldwide success of his "Turnstiles" and "52nd Street" albums and many hit singles, he gave televised concerts on "The Old Grey Whistle Test" and "Music Laden" .