Why Did Billy Joel Quit Writing Music?

American singer Billy Joel stopped writing songs because he didn’t want people to continue ripping his lyrics apart for clues to his personal life.

“I had gone through this celebrity craziness with Christie Brinkley and the divorce,” he once said in an interview. “I felt like there was a proctoscope up my butt. Everybody interrogating, analyzing — everything I wrote was fraught with meanings — and I said, ‘Wait a minute, I don’t want to rip myself open and let everyone see everything.’ It was no longer comfortable. ‘Enough! I gave you enough!’”, he added.

Who Is Billy Joel?

Billy Joel is a pianist, singer and songwriter, born on May 9, 1949, in the The Bronx.

Joel grew up on Long Island, and began piano lessons at a young age. He later dropped out of high school to pursue a music career.

Today, Joel is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and the fourth-best-selling solo artist in America, with more than 160 million records sold across the globe.

Billy Joel Career

Joel began his career by joining small bands and the then Echoes.

He went solo in the 1970s, and went ahead to release 12 pop and rock studio albums between 1971 and 1993.

His popular album Piano Man, was released in 1973.

Between 1974 and 1976, Joel  released the albums Streetlife Serenade and Turnstiles, followed by his revolutionary album, The Stranger, in 1977.

Joel has so far made several hit singles, including “Just the Way You Are”, “Movin’ Out”, “Only the Good Die Young”, and “She’s Always a Woman”.