Billy Joel
On September 20, 2004, Billy Joel received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, adding another
milestone to his extraordinary career. "Movin' Out," a Broadway musical based on Joel's music
choreographed and directed by Twyla Tharp, was nominated
for 10 Tony Awards and took home two including Best
Orchestrations--Billy's first Tony Award win--and Best
Choreography. Billy Joel has had 33 Top 40 hits and 23 Grammy nominations
since signing his first solo recording contract in 1972. In
1990, he was presented with a Grammy Legend Award. Inducted
into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992, Joel was
presented with the Johnny Mercer Award, the organization's
highest honor, in 2001. In 1999 he was inducted into the
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and has received the Recording
Industry Association of America Diamond Award, presented
for albums that have sold over 10 million copies. Having sold more than 100 million records over the past
quarter century, Billy Joel ranks as one of most popular
recording artists and respected entertainers in the world.
In addition to his Grammy Awards, Joel has earned three
Awards For Cable Excellence and has received numerous ASCAP
and BMI awards including the ASCAP Founders Award and the
BMI Career Achievement Award and, in 1994, was given the
1994 Billboard Century Award. Among his many other awards
and honors, Billy Joel has been given a Doctor of Humane
Letters from Fairfield University (1991), a Honorary
Doctorate from Berklee College of Music (1993), and a
Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra
University (1997) and a Doctor of Music from Southampton
College (2000). Joel has donated his time and resources to a variety of
charitable causes outside the realm of his musical career.
A longtime advocate for music education, he first began
holding "master class" sessions on college campuses more
than 20 years ago, giving sessions at colleges across the
country and around the world. In addition, he has held
classes as a benefit for the STAR Foundation (Standing for
Truth About Radiation) and to establish the Rosalind Joel
Scholarship for the Performing Arts at City College in New
York City. Billy Joel has recently launched an ongoing educational
initiative to provide seed money, musical scholarships, and
endowments to a variety of East Coast colleges,
universities and music schools. For his accomplishments as a musician and as a
humanitarian, Billy Joel was honored as the 2002 MusiCares
Person Of The Year by the MusiCares Foundation and the
National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.
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Series
Books:New York State Of Mind, November 2005
Hardcover
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