Talk:Billy Joel

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Billy Joel article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1, 2: 3 months

Template:Vital article

This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons (BLP) policy, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if you have other concerns, please report the issue to this noticeboard.

If you are a subject of this article, or acting on behalf of one, and you need help, please see this help page.

This article has not yet been rated on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Biography: Musicians

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography
	This article is supported by WikiProject Musicians (assessed as High-importance).

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Pop music High‑importance

	Pop music portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Pop music, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles related to pop music on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Pop musicWikipedia:WikiProject Pop musicTemplate:WikiProject Pop musicPop music
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

Rock music Top‑importance

	Rock music portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Rock music, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Rock music on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Rock musicWikipedia:WikiProject Rock musicTemplate:WikiProject Rock musicRock music
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Please add the quality rating to the {{WikiProject banner shell}} template instead of this project banner. See WP:PIQA for details.

New York (state): Long Island Mid‑importance

	New York (state) portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject New York (state), a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the U.S. state of New York on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.New York (state)Wikipedia:WikiProject New York (state)Template:WikiProject New York (state)New York (state)
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Long Island, a project which is currently considered to be inactive.

Harmonica player

Following up on Talk:Billy Joel/Archive 2#American accordionists, where it was noted that this article is in Category:American harmonica players, I see that addition of that to his instrument-list in the infobox is disputed. Let's get this resolved. I present:

[1], where he has a signature harmonica (collaboration product with an instrument manufacturer) based on what he plays in concert
[2], where "Billy Joel has been playing Hohner harmonicas his entire career and they were featured on his first Top 20 single and first gold album"

It is only makes a noticeable appearance in one of his major songs I think, but it is prominently featured there that other musical organizations have seen fit to highlight this aspect. DMacks (talk) 16:44, 25 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Also, apologies to User:WWGB, didn't see you were simply reverting an unexplained addition that was not previously there, rather than removing what had existed. DMacks (talk) 16:48, 25 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I second that, while the Harmonica is not his most used instrument, it has a major role in probably his most popular song, as you mentioned (More than can be said for many other instruments he's played), and as an aspiring harmonica player myself I've always seen him as an inspiration, although that's more a personal anecdote than a proper argument. Erated8 (talk) 23:06, 8 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

> it has a major role in probably his most popular song

He plays the harmonica AND piano at the same time in his most prominent song, surely something to note: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW4at7ugFGs?t=260 Drnxh (talk) 21:06, 15 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

To add to article

To add to this article: Joel's approximate net worth. 173.88.246.138 (talk) 01:22, 27 July 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Not needed or relevant to his career or life and would constantly have to be updated to reflect his current finances Rsemmes92 (talk) 19:41, 7 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

"Piano Man"??

The second sentence of the lead section says: "Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his signature song of the same name..." Really, commonly? By whom? When? This doesn't appear as a common nickname in the infobox, and has no sources to support it. Even if this was true, it does not deserve to be stated as an essential fact in the second sentence of the lead section. 92.15.148.117 (talk) 13:06, 28 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Totally disagree. - FlightTime (open channel) 13:07, 28 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I have added a couple sources to directly back up the claim, but there are plenty of others, including littered throughout the page. Cerebral726 (talk) 13:41, 28 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hard disagree as well. Thanks Cerebral for taking care of that. Kjscotte34 (talk) 15:00, 28 December 2022 (UTC)[reply]