YEAR
1999
INDUCTED BY
Ray Charles
CATEGORY
Performers
Billy Joel gives irrefutable proof that piano is a rock and roll instrument.
After a stint as a lounge pianist, Billy Joel broke into the mainstream with his signature ballads followed up by anthems about everything from a disenchanting music industry to the contentious political climate.
Billy Joel
HALL OF FAME
ESSAY
By Parke Puterbaugh
Billy Joel comes off as such a determinedly average guy that it’s tempting to undervalue his extraordinary gifts.
A straight-shooting product of suburban Long Island, he’s studiously resisted cultivating a rock-star persona or anything that smacks of showbiz artifice. Instead, he’s hewed to his calling as a songwriter, keyboardist and singer with as straightforward a disposition as someone who’s sold nearly a hundred million records can muster.
As an artist, Joel has exhibited stylistic daring and impeccable musicianship while assembling one of the great catalogs of popular songs in this century.
