![Gucci Mane - Hasta La Vista (New 2009)[DOWNLOAD]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110529060457im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SeVNrqLRUYs/0.jpg "Gucci Mane - Hasta La Vista (New 2009)[DOWNLOAD]")
![Belvedere Castle sits upon Vista Rock, the second highest natural elevation[1] in Central Park, New York City.](http://web.archive.org./web/20110529060457im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/ab/85/d6ff0675c1751e56507f5672f17c_grande.jpg "Belvedere Castle sits upon Vista Rock, the second highest natural elevation[1] in Central Park, New York City.")
| Official name | Lewisboro, New York |
|---|---|
| Settlement type | Town |
| Pushpin map | New York |
| Pushpin label position | |
| Pushpin map caption | Location within the state of New York |
| Coordinates region | US-NY |
| Subdivision type | Country |
| Subdivision name | United States |
| Subdivision type1 | State |
| Subdivision name1 | New York |
| Subdivision type2 | County |
| Subdivision name2 | Westchester |
| Unit pref | Imperial |
| Area total km2 | 75.4 |
| Area land km2 | 72.1 |
| Area water km2 | 3.3 |
| Area total sq mi | 29.1 |
| Area land sq mi | 27.9 |
| Area water sq mi | 1.3 |
| Population as of | 2000 |
| Population total | 12324 |
| Population density km2 | 170.9 |
| Population density sq mi | 442.5 |
| Timezone | Eastern (EST) |
| Utc offset | -5 |
| Timezone dst | EDT |
| Utc offset dst | -4 |
| Elevation m | 134 |
| Elevation ft | 440 |
| Postal code type | ZIP code |
| Postal code | 10590, 10536, 10526, 10597, 10518 |
| Area code | 914 |
| Blank name | FIPS code |
| Blank info | 36-42136 |
| Blank1 name | GNIS feature ID |
| Blank1 info | 0979145 |
| Website | Town Website |
Lewisboro also has two historical characters. Sarah Bishop is the hermit of West Mountain. Apparently mistreated by British soldiers at the time of the Revolutionary War, she retreated to a solitary life in the Lewisboro area. A spot known as "Sarah Bishop's Cave" is on the hill on the north side of Lake Rippowam, near Mountain Lakes Camp. The second historical character appeared around the time of the Civil War. The Leatherman was a wanderer who got his name from homemade leather garments. He is frequently mentioned as being in Lewisboro in the middle of the 19th century. He followed a route past homes that would offer him a meal and reappeared at the same doorsteps for 25 years. One of the hiking destinations in Ward Pound Ridge is to the Leatherman's cave, reportedly one of his more frequent homes. In 1987 a 10k trail race called "The Leatherman's Loop" was started to honor his legacy and continues every spring at the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 29.1 square miles (75.4 km²), of which, 27.9 square miles (72.1 km²) of it is land and 1.3 square miles (3.3 km²) of it (4.36%) is water.
There were 4,218 households out of which 47.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 72.9% were married couples living together, 6.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.8% were non-families. 15.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.91 and the average family size was 3.26.
In the town the population was spread out with 31.6% under the age of 18, 3.8% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 29.0% from 45 to 64, and 7.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 95.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.3 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $112,462, and the median income for a family was $140,525 (2008). Males had a median income of $84,616 versus $48,900 for females. The per capita income for the town was $54,795. About 1.4% of families and 1.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.3% of those under age 18 and 2.7% of those age 65 or over.
See Walking Wild Lewisboro for information on park facilities and trail maps.
Category:Towns in New York Category:Populated places in Westchester County, New York
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| Name | Oscar Robles |
|---|---|
| Position | Infielder |
| Team | Diablos Rojos del México |
| Number | 13 |
| Bats | Left |
| Throws | Right |
| Birthdate | April 09, 1976 |
| Birthplace | Tijuana, Mexico |
| Debutdate | May 10 |
| Debutyear | 2005 |
| Debutteam | Los Angeles Dodgers |
| Statyear | 2007 |
| Stat1label | Batting average |
| Stat1value | .260 |
| Stat2label | Home runs |
| Stat2value | 5 |
| Stat3label | Runs batted in |
| Stat3value | 36 |
| Teams |
He has spent much of this decade as a third baseman for the Mexico City Red Devils (Diablos Rojos del México), and briefly as an infielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers from May through . He graduated from Montgomery High School in San Diego, where he had his jersey retired as a pitcher, and set a then-record for San Diego Section career hits (143). He was originally signed by Houston Astros scout Deron Rombach after being drafted in the third round of the June free agent draft. After being signed, he used some of his bonus money to buy a scoreboard for his high school field. However, the Astros had no use for Robles, so they sent him back to the Mexican Baseball League (LMB), where he batted around .400, until he was called up by the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he played 110 games in the 2005 season. On February 2, , Robles was released by the Dodgers and his contract was sold to the Diablos Rojos del México. He was soon picked up by the San Diego Padres and invited to spring training.
On April 29, , the Phillies claimed Robles off waivers from the Padres and assigned him to their Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Through 163 games, he has a career batting average of .260. He has little power with only five career home runs. Now he plays for the Aguilas de Mexicali and the Diablos Rojos De Mexico. He also participated in the Baseball Fest 2010 in Tijuana with Aguilas de Mexicali.
Category:Major League Baseball infielders Category:Los Angeles Dodgers players Category:Mayos de Navojoa players Category:Major League Baseball players from Mexico Category:1976 births Category:Living people Category:People from Tijuana Category:Las Vegas 51s players Category:San Diego Padres players Category:Auburn Astros players Category:New Orleans Zephyrs players Category:Portland Beavers players Category:Lehigh Valley IronPigs players Category:2009 World Baseball Classic players of Mexico
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| Name | Marion Brown |
|---|---|
| Background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Born | September 08, 1931 |
| Died | October 18, 2010 |
| Origin | Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Instrument | Alto saxophone |
| Genre | Avant-garde, jazz |
| Occupation | Saxophonist, ethnomusicologist |
| Years active | 1962–1990 |
Marion Brown (September 8, 1931 – October 18, 2010) was a jazz alto saxophonist and ethnomusicologist. He is most well-known as a member of the 1960s avant-garde jazz scene in New York City, playing alongside musicians such as John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, and John Tchicai. He performed on Coltrane's landmark 1965 album Ascension.
In 1967, Brown travelled to Paris, France where he developed an interest in architecture, Impressionistic art, African music and the music of Eric Satie. In the late 1960s, he was an American Fellow in Music Composition and Performance at the Cité Internationale Des Artists in Paris. Around 1970, he provided the soundtrack for Marcel Camus' film Le Temps fou, a soundtrack featuring Steve McCall, Barre Phillips, Ambrose Jackson and Gunter Hampel. By 2005 he had moved from the nursing home to an assisted living facility in Hollywood, Florida.
Harold Budd recorded Marion Brown's "Sweet Earth Flying" on his album Luxa.
His Name Is Alive performed a tribute concert in 2004, performing solely Brown's music. In 2007, High Two released portions of the concert with studio versions as Sweet Earth Flower: A Tribute to Marion Brown.
Category:1931 births Category:2010 deaths Category:Avant-garde jazz musicians Category:American jazz alto saxophonists Category:American musicologists Category:American music theorists Category:Howard University alumni Category:Wesleyan University alumni Category:Freedom Records artists Category:ESP-Disk artists Category:Timeless Records artists Category:Impulse! Records artists Category:DIW Records artists Category:ECM artists
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| Name | Horace Andy |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Horace Hinds |
| Alias | Sleepy |
| Born | February 19, 1951 |
| Origin | Kingston, Jamaica |
| Instrument | vocals |
| Genre | Reggae, trip hop |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Associated acts | Massive AttackEasy Star All-Stars}} |
Horace Andy (born Horace Hinds, February 19, 1951, Kingston, Jamaica), is a roots reggae songwriter and singer, known for his distinctive vocals and hit songs such as "Government Land", "Angel", "Five Man Army" and a cover version of "Ain't No Sunshine".
Category:Jamaican reggae musicians Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:People from Kingston, Jamaica Category:Converts to the Rastafari movement Category:Performers of Rastafarian music Category:Jamaican Rastafarians Category:Wrasse Records artists
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| Name | Gucci Mane |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Radric Davis |
| Born | February 12, 1980 Birmingham, Alabama |
| Died | |
| Origin | Atlanta, Georgia, United States |
| Genre | Hip hop music |
| Occupation | Rapper |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Label | 1017 Brick Squad Records, Asylum, Warner Bros. |
| Associated acts | 1017 Brick Squad, OJ Da Juiceman, Yo Gotti, Soulja Boy, Shawty Lo |
| Url |
Radric Davis (born February 12, 1980), better known by his stage name Gucci Mane, is an American rapper. He debuted in 2005 with Trap House and followed with albums such as Hard to Kill in 2006, Trap-A-Thon and Back to the Trap House in 2007. In 2009, his second studio album The State vs. Radric Davis was released. Gucci Mane has released many other mixtapes as well.
While serving a six-month jail term for assault in late 2005, Davis was charged with murder, though the charges were later dropped due to a lack of evidence. In 2009, he served a year-long prison term for violating probation for his 2005 assault conviction.
On May 10, 2005, Davis was attacked by a group of men at a house in Decatur, Georgia. Davis and his companions shot at the group, killing one. The corpse of one of the attackers, Henry Lee Clark III, was found later behind a nearby middle school. Davis turned himself in to police investigators on May 19, 2005, and was subsequently charged with murder. Davis claimed that the shots fired by him and his party were in self-defense. Davis was released from jail in late January 2006. He was incarcerated in the Fulton County jail for probation violation and released on May 12, 2010.
On November 2, 2010, Gucci Mane was arrested for driving on the wrong side of the road, running a red light or stop sign, damage to government property, obstruction, no license, no proof of insurance and other traffic charges. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital.
Category:1980 births Category:Living people Category:2000s rappers Category:2010s rappers Category:African American rappers Category:American people convicted of assault Category:Asylum Records artists Category:People convicted of drug offenses Category:People from Birmingham, Alabama Category:Rappers from Alabama Category:Rappers from Atlanta, Georgia Category:Warner Bros. Records artists
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| Birth date | March 09, 1963 |
|---|---|
| Birth place | Shaker Heights, Ohio, U.S.A. |
| Alma mater | Yale University |
| Spouse | Jennifer Pogue, MD |
| Children | son Kelly, daughter Tia, and son Jeffrey |
| Website | http://www.davidpogue.com/ |
David Pogue (born March 9, 1963) is a technology writer, technology columnist and commentator. He is a personal technology columnist for the New York Times, an Emmy-winning tech correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning, and weekly tech correspondent for CNBC. He has written or co-written seven books in the For Dummies series (including Macintosh computers, magic, opera, and classical music); in 1999, he launched his own series of computer how-to books, called the Missing Manual series, which now includes over 100 titles covering a variety of personal computer operating systems and applications. In 2009, David wrote with collaboration from around 500,000 Twitter followers, "The World According to Twitter"; a book in which he publishes daily questions 'tweeted', and includes the best responses from a selection of his followers.
He graduated from Yale University in 1985, summa cum laude with Distinction in Music. He spent ten years working in New York, for a time in the office of Music Theatre International and also intermittently as a Broadway musical conductor.
Pogue married on September 16, 1995, at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Jennifer Letitia O'Sullivan, the daughter of Dr. Renee Bennett O'Sullivan of Wellesley, Massachusetts, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon. She graduated from Brown University and received her medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania and was a hand and plastic surgeon for four years in Stamford, Connecticut. David and Jennifer are the parents of three children, sons Kelly and Jeffrey and daughter Tia.
On August 29, 2007 he received an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Music) from Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia.
Each Thursday, he appears on CNBC's "Power Lunch" in a taped, three-minute comic tech review, which then appears on the New York Times website, nytimes.com, as well as iTunes, YouTube, TiVo, and JetBlue.
Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:American technology writers Category:People from Shaker Heights, Ohio Category:O'Reilly writers Category:Yale University alumni Category:New York Times columnists
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| Name | Billy Joel |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | William Martin Joel |
| Alias | Bill Joel,Bill Martin |
| Birth date | May 09, 1949 |
| Birth place | The Bronx, New York City, |
| Origin | Hicksville, New York, |
| Instrument | Vocals, piano/keyboards, guitar, harmonica, accordion |
| Genre | Rock, pop, jazz, classical |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1964–present |
| Label | Columbia,Family Productions,Famous Music,Sony Classical |
| Associated acts | Echoes,The Hassles,Attila,Elton John,Bruce Springsteen |
| Url | |
| Notable instruments | Piano |
William Martin "Billy" Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to the RIAA.
Joel had Top 40 hits in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s; achieving 33 Top 40 hits in the United States, all of which he wrote singlehandedly. He is also a six-time Grammy Award winner, a 23-time Grammy nominee and has sold over 150 million records worldwide. He was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame (1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999), the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2006) and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame (2009). Joel "retired" from recording pop music in 1993 but continues to tour (often with Elton John).
Joel's father was an accomplished classical pianist. Billy reluctantly began piano lessons at an early age, at his mother's insistence; his teachers included the noted American pianist Morton Estrin and musician/songwriter Timothy Ford. His interest in music, rather than sports, was a source of teasing and bullying in his early years. (He has said in interviews that his piano instructor also taught ballet. Her name was Frances Neiman, and she was a Juilliard trained musician. She gave both classic piano and ballet lessons in the studio attached to the rear of her house, leading neighborhood bullies to mistakenly think he was learning to dance.) As a teenager, Joel took up boxing so that he would be able to defend himself. He boxed successfully on the amateur Golden Gloves circuit for a short time, winning twenty-two bouts, but abandoned the sport shortly after having his nose broken in his twenty-fourth boxing match.
Joel attended Hicksville High School, class of 1967. Joel however did not graduate from Hicksville. Due to playing at a piano bar, he was one English credit short of the graduation requirement; he overslept on the day of an important exam, owing to his late-night musician's lifestyle. He left high school without a diploma to begin a career in music. "I told them, 'the hell with it. If I'm not going to Columbia University, I'm going to Columbia Records and you don't need a high school diploma over there'." Columbia did, in fact, become the label that eventually signed him. In 1992, he submitted essays to the school board and was awarded his diploma at Hicksville High's annual graduation ceremony—25 years after he had left.
Joel began playing recording sessions with the Echoes in 1965, when he was 16 years old. Joel played piano on several recordings produced by Shadow Morton, including (as claimed by Joel, but denied by songwriter Ellie Greenwich) the Shangri-Las' Leader of the Pack, as well as several records released through Kama Sutra Productions. During this time, the Echoes started to play numerous late-night shows.
Later, in 1965, the Echoes changed their name to the Emeralds and then to the Lost Souls. For two years, Joel played sessions and performed with the Lost Souls. In 1967, he left that band to join the Hassles, a Long Island band that had signed a contract with United Artists Records. Over the next year and a half, they released The Hassles in 1967, Hour of the Wolf in 1968, and four singles, all of which failed commercially. Following The Hassles' demise in 1969, he formed the duo Attila with Hassles drummer Jon Small. Attila released their eponymous debut album in July 1970, and disbanded the following October. The reason for the group's break-up has been attributed to Joel's affair with Small's wife, Elizabeth, whom Joel eventually married.
Popular cuts such as "She's Got a Way" and "Everybody Loves You Now" were originally released on this album, although they did not gain much attention until released as live performances in 1981 on Songs in the Attic. Since then, they have become favorite concert numbers. Cold Spring Harbor gained a second chance on the charts in 1984, when Columbia reissued the album after slowing it down to the correct speed. The album reached #158 in the US and #95 in the UK nearly a year later. Cold Spring Harbor caught the attention of Merrilee Rush ("Angel of the Morning") and she recorded a femme version of "She’s Got a Way (He’s Got a Way)" for Scepter Records in 1971.
Joel gigged locally in New York City in the fall of 1971 and moved out to Los Angeles early in 1972, adopting the stage name Bill Martin. While in California he did a six month gig in The Executive Room piano bar on Wilshire Boulevard. It was there he composed his signature hit "Piano Man" about the various patrons of the lounge. Subsequently he toured with his band members (Rhys Clark on drums, Al Hertzberg on guitar, and Larry Russell on bass) until the end of June 1972 throughout the US and Puerto Rico, opening for headliners such as J. Geils Band, The Beach Boys and Taj Mahal. At the Mar y sol festival in Puerto Rico, he electrified the crowd and got a big boost for his career., returning to New York City in 1975.
The touring band changed as well, Don Evans replacing Al Hertzberg on guitar, and Patrick McDonald taking over the bass position, to be replaced in 1974 by Doug Stegmeyer, who remained with Billy until 1989. Tom Whitehorse on banjo and pedal steel and then Johnny Almond on sax and keyboards rounded out the band. Billy's infectious spirit and talent galvanized the band into a tight performing unit, touring the U.S. and Canada extensively and appearing on the popular music shows of the day. Joel remained in Los Angeles to write Streetlife Serenade, his second album on the Columbia label. It was around this time that Jon Troy, an old friend from the New York neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, acted as Joel's manager although he would soon be replaced by Joel's wife Elizabeth. References to both suburbia and the inner city pepper the album.
The stand-out track on the album is "The Entertainer", a #34 hit in the U.S. which picks up thematically where "Piano Man" left off. Joel was upset that "Piano Man" had been significantly edited down to make it more radio-friendly, and in "The Entertainer," he refers to the edit with sarcastic lines such as "If you're gonna have a hit, you gotta make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05", alluding to shortening of singles for radio play, as compared with the longer versions that appear on albums. Although Streetlife Serenade is often considered one of Joel's weaker albums (Joel has confirmed his distaste for the album), it nevertheless contains some notable tracks, including the title track, "Los Angelenos" and the instrumental "Root Beer Rag", which was a staple of his live set in the '70s and was resurrected frequently in 2007 and 2008. Streetlife Serenade also marks the beginning of a more confident vocal style on Joel's part.
In late 1975, he played piano and organ on several tracks on Bo Diddley's The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll all-star album.
Disenchanted with the L.A. music scene, Joel returned to New York in 1976. There he recorded Turnstiles, for which he used his own hand-picked musicians in the studio for the first time, and also adopted a more hands-on role. Songs were initially recorded at Caribou Ranch with members of Elton John's band, and produced by famed Chicago producer James William Guercio, but Joel was dissatisfied with the results. The songs were re-recorded in New York, and Joel took over, producing the album himself.
The minor hit "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" echoed the Phil Spector sound, and was covered by Ronnie Spector (in a 2008 radio interview, Joel said he does not perform "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" in his live shows anymore because it is in too high a key and "shreds" his vocal cords.) The album also featured the song "New York State of Mind", a bluesy, jazzy epic that has become one of Joel's signature songs, and which was later covered by fellow Columbia labelmates Barbra Streisand, on her 1977 Streisand Superman album, and as a duet with Tony Bennett, on his 2001 album. Other songs on the album include "Summer, Highland Falls", "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" and "Say Goodbye to Hollywood", which became a Top 40 hit in 1981 in a live version. Songs such as "Prelude/Angry Young Man" would become a mainstay of his concerts for years.
The Stranger netted Joel Grammy nominations for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, for "Just the Way You Are", which was written as a gift to his wife Elizabeth. He received a late night phone call to his hotel room in Paris (he was on tour) in February 1979, letting him know he had won in both categories.
Joel faced high expectations on his next album. 52nd Street was conceived as a day in Manhattan, and was named after the famous street of same name which hosted many of the world's premier jazz venues and performers throughout the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Fans purchased over seven million copies on the strength of the hits "My Life" (#3), "Big Shot" (#14), and "Honesty" (#24). This helped 52nd Street become Joel's first #1 album. "My Life" eventually became the theme song for a new US television sitcom, Bosom Buddies, which featured actor Tom Hanks in one of his earliest roles. The album won Grammys for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male and Album of the Year. 52nd Street was the first album to be released on compact disc when it went on sale alongside Sony's CD player CDP-101 on October 1, 1982, in Japan.
Despite the publicity photos and album cover showing Joel holding a trumpet, he does not play the instrument on the album, though two tracks on the album do feature some well-known jazz trumpeters. Freddie Hubbard plays two solos in "Zanzibar," and Jon Faddis joins Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker in the horn section for "Half a Mile Away".
In 1979, Billy Joel travelled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival that took place between March 2–4, alongside Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson; Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, the Trio of Doom, Fania All-Stars, Billy Swan, Bonnie Bramlett, Mike Finnegan, Weather Report, plus an array of Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines and Orquesta Aragón. His performance is captured on Ernesto Juan Castellanos's documentary Havana Jam '79.
The Nylon Curtain went to #7 on the charts, partially due to heavy airplay on MTV for the videos to the singles Allentown and Pressure. Allentown spent six weeks at a peak position of #17 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it one of the most-played radio songs of 1982, pushing it into 1983's year-end Top 70, and making it the most successful song from The Nylon Curtain album, besting "Pressure," which peaked at #20 (where it resided for three weeks) and Goodnight Saigon which reached #56 on U.S. charts.
The resulting album, An Innocent Man, was compiled as a tribute to the rock and roll music of the 1950s and 1960s, and also resulted in Joel's second Billboard #1 hit, Tell Her About It, which was the first single off the album in the summer of 1983. The album itself reached #4 on the charts and #2 in UK. It also boasted 6 top-30 singles, the most of any album in Joel's catalog. At the time the album came out that summer, WCBS-FM began playing The Longest Time both in regular rotation and on the Doo Wop Shop. Many fans wanted this to be the next single released in the fall, but that October, Uptown Girl would be released, peaking at #3 and ranking at #20 on Billboard's 1983 Hot 100 year-end chart. Also, the James Brown-inspired song "Easy Money" would be featured in the 1983 Rodney Dangerfield film of the same name.
In December the title song, An Innocent Man, would be released as a single and would peak at #10 in the U.S. and #8 in the UK, early in 1984. That March The Longest Time would finally be released as a single, peaking at #14 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. That summer, Leave a Tender Moment Alone would be released and hit #27 while Keeping the Faith would peak at #18 in January 1985. In the video for Keeping the Faith, Christie Brinkley also plays the "redhead girl in a Chevrolet". An Innocent Man was also nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy, but lost to Michael Jackson's Thriller. Billy Joel also participated in the USA For Africa We Are The World project in 1985.
Following the success of An Innocent Man, Joel had been approached to release an album of his most successful singles. This was not the first time this topic had come up, but Joel had initially considered "Greatest Hits" albums as marking the end of one's career. This time, he agreed, and Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and 2 was released as a 4-sided album and 2-CD set, with the songs in sequence of when they were released. The new songs "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" and "The Night Is Still Young" were recorded and released as singles to support the album; both reached the top 40, peaking at #9 and #34, respectively. Greatest Hits was highly successful and has since been certified double diamond by the RIAA for over 10.5 million copies (21 million units) sold. To date it is the sixth best selling album in American music history according to the RIAA.
Coinciding with the Greatest Hits album release, Joel released a 2-volume Video Album that was a compilation of the promotional videos he had recorded from 1977 to the present time. Along with videos for the new singles off the Greatest Hits album, Joel also recorded a video for his first hit, "Piano Man", for this project.
Though it broke into the Top Ten, The Bridge was not a success in relation to some of Joel's other albums, but it yielded the hits "A Matter of Trust" and "Modern Woman" from the film Ruthless People, a dark comedy from the directors of Airplane! (both #10). In a departure from his "piano man" persona, Joel is shown in its video playing a Les Paul-autographed Gibson guitar. The ballad "This is the Time" also charted, peaking at #18, and has been a favorite on the prom circuit ever since. The reason "Modern Woman" has been left off many of Joel's compilation sets (the exception appears to be My Lives) is that he has since said in interviews he doesn't care for the song.
On November 18, 1986, an extended version of the song "Big Man On Mulberry Street" was used on a season three episode of Moonlighting. The episode itself was also titled "Big Man on Mulberry Street". In a dream sequence, Maddie Hayes envisions David Addison with his ex-wife. An extra horn solo was added to the song. The Bridge was also Joel's last album to carry the Family Productions logo, finally severing his ties with Artie Ripp.
At around this time, Joel completed voice work on Disney's Oliver & Company, released in 1988, a loose adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. Joel brought both his acting and musical talents to the film as Dodger. For the film, Joel recorded a song titled "Why Should I Worry?" Critics were generally positive toward the film, and pointed to Joel's acting contribution as one of its highlights, despite it being his first acting job. In interviews, Joel explained that he took the job due to his love of Disney cartoons as a child.
Joel has also stated in many interviews, most recently in a 2008 interview in Performing Songwriter magazine, that he does not think The Bridge is a good album.
Most of that audience took a long while to warm up to Joel's energetic show, something that never had happened in other countries he had performed in. According to Joel, each time the fans were hit with the bright lights, anybody who seemed to be enjoying themselves froze. In addition, people who were "overreacting" were removed by security.
The album КОНЦЕРТ (Russian for "Concert") was released in October 1987. Singer Peter Hewlitt was brought in to hit the high notes on his most vocally challenging songs, like "An Innocent Man." Joel also did versions of The Beatles' classic "Back in the U.S.S.R." and Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'". It has been estimated that Joel lost more than $1 million of his own money on the trip and concerts, but he has said the goodwill he was shown there was well worth it.
The first single for the album "We Didn't Start the Fire", was released in September 1989 and it became Joel's third and most recent US #1 hit, spending two weeks at the top; it was also Billboard's second-last #1 single of the 1980s. Storm Front was released in October, and it eventually became Joel's first #1 album since Glass Houses, nine years earlier. Storm Front was Joel's first album since Turnstiles to be recorded without Phil Ramone as producer. For this album, he wanted a new sound, and worked with Mick Jones of Foreigner fame. Joel also revamped his backing band, firing everyone, save drummer Liberty DeVitto, guitarist David Brown, and saxophone player Mark Rivera, and bringing in new faces, including talented multi-instrumentalist Crystal Taliefero. Storm Front's second single, "I Go to Extremes" made it to #6 in early 1990. The album was also notable for its song "Leningrad", written after Joel met a clown in the Soviet city of that name during his tour in 1987, and "The Downeaster Alexa", written to underscore the plight of fishermen on Long Island who are barely able to make ends meet. Another well-known single from the album is the ballad "And So It Goes" (#37 in late 1990). The song was originally written in 1983, around the time Joel was writing songs for An Innocent Man; but "And So It Goes" did not fit that album's retro theme, so it was held back until Storm Front.
In the summer of 1992 Joel filed another $90 million dollar lawsuit against his former lawyer Allen Grubman, alleging a wide range of offences including fraud, breach of fiduciary responsibility, malpractice and breach of contract but the case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
Joel started work on River of Dreams in early 1993. Its cover art was a colorful painting by Christie Brinkley that was a series of scenes from each of the songs on the album. The eponymous first single was the last top 10 hit Joel has penned to date, reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 & ranking at #21 on Billboard's 1993 year-end Hot 100 chart. In addition to the title track, the album includes the hits "All About Soul" (with Color Me Badd on backing vocals) and "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)", written for his daughter, Alexa. A radio remix version of "All About Soul" can be found on The Essential Billy Joel (2001), and a demo version appears on My Lives (2005). The song "The Great Wall of China" was written about his ex-manager Frank Weber and was a regular in the setlist for Joel's 2006 tour. "2000 Years" was prominent in the millennium concert at Madison Square Garden, December 31, 1999, and "Famous Last Words" closed the book on Joel's pop songwriting for more than a decade.
1997's "To Make You Feel My Love" and "Hey Girl" both charted from Joel's Greatest Hits Volume III album. Joel wrote and recorded the song "Shameless" that was later covered by Garth Brooks and reached number 1 on Billboard's country charts. Joel performed with Brooks during his Central Park concert in 1997 with an estimated 980,000 people in attendance, the largest audience to attend a U.S. concert.
In 2001, Joel released Fantasies & Delusions, a collection of classical piano pieces. All were composed by Joel and performed by Richard Joo. Joel often uses bits of these songs as interludes in live performances, and some of them are part of the score for the hit show Movin' Out. The album topped the classical charts at #1. Joel performed "New York State of Mind" live on September 21, 2001, as part of the benefit concert, and on October 20, 2001, along with "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)", at the Concert for New York City in Madison Square Garden. That night, he also performed "Your Song" with Elton John.
In 2005, Columbia released a box set, My Lives, which is largely a compilation of demos, b-sides, live/alternate versions and even a few Top 40 hits. The compilation also includes the Umixit software, in which people can remix "Zanzibar", "Only the Good Die Young", "Keepin' The Faith", and live versions of "I Go to Extremes" and "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" with their PC. Also, a DVD of a show from the River of Dreams tour is included.
On January 7, 2006, Joel began a tour across the United States. Having not written, or at least released, any new songs in 13 years, he featured a sampling of songs from throughout his career, including major hits as well as obscure tunes like "Zanzibar" and "All for Leyna". His tour included an unprecedented 12 sold-out concerts over several months at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The singer's stint of 12 shows at Madison Square Garden broke a previous record set by New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen, who played 10 sold-out shows at the same arena. The record earned Joel the first retired number (12) in the arena owned by a non-athlete. This honor has also been given to Joel at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia where a banner in the colors of the Philadelphia Flyers is hung honoring Joel's 46 Philadelphia sold-out shows. He also had a banner raised in his honor for being the highest grossing act in the history of the Times Union Center (formerly the Knickerbocker Arena and Pepsi Arena) in Albany, New York. This honor was given to him as part of the April 17, 2007, show he did there. On June 13, 2006, Columbia released 12 Gardens Live, a double album containing 32 live recordings from a collection of the 12 different shows at Madison Square Garden during Joel's 2006 tour.
Joel visited the United Kingdom and Ireland for the first time in many years as part of the European leg of his 2006 tour. On July 31, 2006, he performed a free concert in Rome, with the Colosseum as the backdrop. Organizers estimated 500,000 people turned out for the concert, which was opened by Bryan Adams.
Joel toured South Africa, Australia, Japan, and Hawaii in late 2006, and subsequently toured the Southeastern United States in February and March 2007 before hitting the Midwest in the spring of 2007. On January 3 of that year, news was leaked to the New York Post that Billy had recorded a new song with lyrics—this being the first new song with lyrics he'd written in almost 14 years. The song, entitled "All My Life", was Joel's newest single (with second track "You're My Home", live from Madison Square Garden 2006 tour) and was released into stores on February 27, 2007. On February 4, Joel sang the national anthem for Super Bowl XLI, becoming the first to sing the national anthem twice at a Super Bowl. and on April 17, 2007, Joel was honored in Albany, New York, for his ninth concert at the Times Union Center. He is now holding the highest box office attendance of any artist to play at the arena. A banner was raised in his honor marking this achievement.
On December 1, 2007, Joel premiered his new song "Christmas in Fallujah". The song was performed by Cass Dillon, a new Long Island based musician, as Joel felt it should be sung by someone in a soldier's age range. The track was dedicated to servicemen based in Iraq. Joel wrote it in September 2007 after reading numerous letters sent to him from American soldiers in Iraq. "Christmas in Fallujah" is only the second pop/rock song released by Joel since 1993's River of Dreams. Proceeds from the song benefitted the Homes For Our Troops foundation.
On March 10, Joel inducted his friend John Mellencamp into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. During his induction speech, Joel said:
Joel's staying power as a touring act continues to the present day. He sold out 10 concerts at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut from May to July 2008. Mohegan Sun honored him with a banner displaying his name and the number 10 to hang in the arena. On June 19, 2008, he played a concert at the grand re-opening of Caesars Windsor (formerly Casino Windsor) in Windsor, Ontario, Canada to an invite-only crowd for Casino VIPs. His mood was light, and joke-filled, even introducing himself as "Billy Joel's dad" and stating "you guys overpaid to see a fat bald guy." He also admitted that Canadian folk-pop musician Gordon Lightfoot was the musical inspiration for "She's Always A Woman".
On July 16, 2008, and July 18, 2008, Joel played the final concerts at Shea Stadium before its demolition. His guests included Tony Bennett, Don Henley, John Mayer, John Mellencamp, Steven Tyler, Roger Daltrey, Garth Brooks, and Paul McCartney. McCartney ended the show with a reference to his own performance there with the Beatles in 1965, the first major stadium concert of the rock and roll industry.
On December 11, 2008, Joel recorded his own rendition of "Christmas in Fallujah" during a concert at Acer Arena in Sydney and released it as a live single in Australia only. It is the only official release of Joel performing "Christmas in Fallujah", as Cass Dillon sang on the 2007 studio recording and the handful of times the song was played live in 2007. Joel sang the song throughout his December 2008 tour of Australia.
On May 19, 2009, Joel's former drummer, Liberty DeVitto, filed a lawsuit in NYC claiming Joel and Sony Music owed DeVitto over 10 years of royalty payments. DeVitto has never been given songwriting credit on any of Joel's songs, but he claims that he helped write some of them. In April 2010, it was announced that Joel and DeVitto amicably resolved the lawsuit.
Joel married Christie Brinkley on March 23, 1985. Their daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, was born December 29, 1985. Alexa was given the middle name of Ray after Ray Charles, one of Joel's musical idols. Joel and Brinkley divorced on August 25, 1994, although the couple remain friendly.
On October 2, 2004, Joel married 23-year-old Katie Lee. At the time of the wedding, Joel was 55. Joel's daughter, Alexa Ray, then 18, served as maid-of-honor. Joel's second wife, Christie Brinkley, attended the union and gave the couple her blessing. Lee works as a restaurant correspondent for the PBS show, George Hirsch: Living it Up!. In 2006, Katie Lee hosted Bravo's Top Chef. She did not return for a second season, instead going on tour with her husband. She then began writing a weekly column in Hamptons magazine, and became a field correspondent for the entertainment television show Extra. On June 17, 2009, both confirmed that they have split after five years of marriage.
Joel plans to open 20th Century Cycles in Oyster Bay, Long Island that will sell custom made retro styled motorcycles and accessories and serve as a hangout for enthusiasts.
On November 16, 2010, in an interview on the Howard Stern Show, Billy Joel said that he doesn't believe in a god, and that he is an atheist.
These various influences have in part led to his broad success over a long period of time but have also made him difficult to categorize in popular music today.
Among many of Joel's influences are: Beethoven, The Beatles, Joel has been presented with multiple honorary doctorates:
His High School Diploma was finally awarded 25 years after he left High School by the School Board.
Joel was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio in 1999.
Joel was also named MusiCares Person of the Year for 2002, an award given each year at the same time as the Grammy Awards. At the dinner honoring Joel, various artists performed versions of his songs including Nelly Furtado, Stevie Wonder, Jon Bon Jovi, Diana Krall, Rob Thomas and Natalie Cole. He was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006. In 2005, Joel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Joel has banners in the rafters of the Times Union Center, Nassau Coliseum, Madison Square Garden, Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT, Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, and Hartford Civic Center in Hartford. (Joel is erroneously cited as the first artist to perform a concert at Yankee Stadium in New York City; The Isley Brothers first performed there in 1969, and the Latin supergroup, The Fania All-Stars played and recorded live albums at the stadium during the 1970s.)
He has also sponsored the Billy Joel Visiting Composer Series at Syracuse University.
Joel is the only performing artist to have played both Yankee and Shea Stadiums, as well as Giants Stadium.
Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Grammy Award winners Category:2010s singers Category:2000s singers Category:1990s singers Category:1980s singers Category:1970s singers Category:English-language singers Category:American pop rock singers Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American pop pianists Category:American rock pianists Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of English descent Category:American atheists Category:Jewish atheists Category:New York Democrats Category:Musicians from New York Category:People from Long Island Category:People from the Bronx Category:1949 births Category:Living people
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![Belvedere Castle sits upon Vista Rock, the second highest natural elevation[1] in Central Park, New York City.](http://web.archive.org./web/20110529060457im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/ab/85/d6ff0675c1751e56507f5672f17c_thumb.jpg "Belvedere Castle sits upon Vista Rock, the second highest natural elevation[1] in Central Park, New York City.")
