The Prince of New York - Billy Joel
One would ask who qualifies such a title.
Well for one, in 2014, Billy Joel was established as the first-ever music franchise at Madison Square Garden. He joined the Knicks (Basketball), Rangers (Ice Hockey) and Liberty (Women’s basketball) as a resident at the World’s Most Famous Arena with a string of 12 sold out shows. He’s now broken the record of “the longest run of any artist” with a 13th consecutive show in January 2014, which also marked his 59th show at The Garden.
Many claim to be the King of New York when it comes to being an artist, however not many can claim to have a running debate as to whether a street should be named after them, not a matter of if it should happen, but when it should happen. You can read the article here
Billy’s life was one born out of struggle and resilience, being the son of Jewish Immigrant, forced out of Germany due to nazi rule. Raised by his Mother and often bullied at school, Billy became resilient and even helped support his Mother by playing music in bars and clubs around New York, where he was born. Billy even took up boxing to defend himself against regular abuse from other kids in the neighbourhood.
My first memory of Billy was his photograph on the vinyl cover of his Greatest Hits Album.’ It was a record that was played a lot in our household, because of the driving rock beat and electric guitars. Personally I was very drawn to the song craft and also the height of Billy’s voice.
Billy was the first major concert I went too. What’s fascinating about Billy is his quality on stage matches his quality on the record. He had great respect for the crowd and was entertaining , something which I have seen him consistently do on live recordings. What I love, being a coach and teacher, is that he used to and still does a lot of university talks, even when being at the height of fame.
My parents eventually bought a CD player , and Billy’s Street life Serenader was the 1st CD Album we bought. What started to grab me most on this album were his laid back songs and ballads. I really could hear the quality and emotion in his voice and the quality of his songwriting, in songs like the album’s title.
As a Voice Coach today, I am drawn to a great variety of music from Classical to Hip Hop, and of course (for those who know me) Musical Theatre. Billy intrigues me as he seems to have so much control of his voice, control over what he wants to do. I work with technique a lot and follow some of the world’s greatest vocalists, but I ‘m always perplexed when I come across a singer like Billy who doesn’t have perfect vocal technique, and to be honest I don’t think he needs it. I am continually balancing and strengthening my voice - the right amount of muscle, the right amount of airflow and air pressure - yet Billy always sounds out of balance and possibly a little heavy for his voice type………and this is what I love about him.
Billy holds No.1 spot in my Top 3 favourite artists. I love his voice, songs, open-mindedness and professionalism as well as hi seemingly openness to the world and how he respects and treats people. Certainly a troubled life from many angles, yet his perspective and philosophy is very engaging.