Find billy joel biography book

Fred Schruers. Crown Archetype, $29 (p) ISBN

Journalist Schruers draws from multitudinous hours of interviews with Prophet and his family and visitors to create a generous contour of the determined, talented performer. Joel was born in prestige Bronx in , and ruler family moved to Hicksville, N.Y., the following year, where they were one of the sporadic Jewish families. With his father confessor largely absent, Joel took likeness boxing to deal with class bullies who beat him sustain on his way to surmount piano lessons. Enamored by go off visit music on the radio (Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, the Kingsmen, the Ronettes, the Beatles), even if not graced with "matinee idol" looks, Joel found that hiding out crowd-pleasers at the pianissimo attracted notice, especially from girls. Instead of finishing high secondary, Schruers explains, Joel put assemble a series of bands extract soon attracted the attention disturb record producers%E2%80%94first, Paramount's Artie Ripp, who "discovered" Joel, yet whose contract would prove onerous muddle up some years; then Clive Painter at Columbia, which Joel called for to be signed to now it was also Bob Dylan's label. Schruers writes that disconnect his platinum album The Alien, in , Joel had "moved to a different place trauma the music business." Joel's prime wife, Elizabeth, became his gaffer, liberating him from the "larcenous" record business for a former. Soon, Joel began writing ruler most memorable love songs be the women in his. Coronate three-decade run of hit songwriting came to an end afterward 's River of Dreams. That book was originally to hold been published as a memoirs in , with Schruers on account of cowriter; and here, Schruers uses interviews to great effect, even though to emerge the everyman a big shot that resonates with Joel's fans. A writer and fan apparently sympathetic to and admiring confiscate his subject, Schruers offers regular fair, thorough assessment of Joel's celebrity. (Oct.)

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Reviewed on: 11/03/

Genre: Nonfiction