William Martin Joel is an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his signature 1973 song of the same name, Joel has had a successful music career as a solo artist since the 1970s.
Philip Rabinowitz, better known as Phil Ramone, was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business partner Jack Arnold at 112 West 48th Street, New York, upstairs from the famous musicians' watering hole, Jim & Andy's, and several doors east of Manny's Music. The success of the original A & R Recording allowed it to expand into several studios and a record production company. He was described by Billboard as "legendary", and the BBC as a "CD pioneer".
The Stranger is the fifth studio album by American singer Billy Joel, released on September 29, 1977, by Columbia Records. It was the first of Joel's albums to be produced by Phil Ramone, with whom he would work for five subsequent albums.
52nd Street is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on October 11, 1978, by Columbia Records. Presenting itself as the follow-up to his breakthrough studio album, The Stranger, Joel tried to give the new album a fresh sound, hiring various jazz musicians to differentiate it from his previous studio albums.
Songs in the Attic is the first live album by Billy Joel, released in 1981.
"Piano Man" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel. First released as a single in the US on November 2, 1973, it was included on Joel's 1973 album Piano Man. The song is sung from the point of view of a piano player at a bar, describing the patrons. "Piano Man" is based on Joel's real-life experiences as a lounge musician in Los Angeles from 1972 to 1973, which he had decided to pursue in an effort to escape his contracted New York City–based record company at the time, Family Productions, following the poor commercial performance of the album Cold Spring Harbor.
"Just the Way You Are" is a song by Billy Joel from his fifth studio album The Stranger (1977), released as the album's second single in early November 1977. It became both Joel's first US Top 10 and UK Top 20 single, as well as Joel's first Gold single in the US. The song also topped the Billboard Easy Listening Chart for the entire month of January 1978.
Pilot is a Scottish rock group, formed in 1973 in Edinburgh by David Paton and Billy Lyall. They are best known for their songs "January", "Magic", "Just a Smile" and "Call Me Round".
"Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" is a song from Billy Joel's 1977 album The Stranger, and has been described as "a characteristic Joel observation on New York life". In 2021, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it the 324th greatest song of all time.
The Ramones were an American punk rock band from New York City. Their discography consists of fourteen studio albums, ten live albums, sixteen compilation albums, seventy-one singles, thirty-two music videos and ten films. The band formed in early 1974, and upon signing with Seymour Stein of Sire Records, the Ramones released their self-titled debut album on April 23, 1976. Despite the recording process only taking a week and being on a budget of $6,400, the album has since become their most accoladed and iconic release. 1977's Leave Home was the band's follow up album, released less than a year later, also through Sire. While it was the first album to chart in the United Kingdom, it did not chart as well in the United States as Ramones, nor their third record, Rocket to Russia, which was released in late 1977. Road to Ruin was the band's fourth studio album and their first to feature a change in the band member line-up, with drummer Marky Ramone replacing Tommy Ramone.
"Old Time Rock and Roll" is a song written by George Jackson and Thomas E. Jones III, with uncredited lyrics by Bob Seger. It was recorded by Seger for his tenth studio album Stranger in Town. It was also released as a single in 1979. It is a sentimentalized look back at the music of the original rock 'n' roll era and has often been referenced as Seger's favorite song. The song gained renewed popularity after being featured in the 1983 film Risky Business. It has since become a standard in popular music and was ranked number two on the Amusement & Music Operators Association's survey of the Top 40 Jukebox Singles of All Time in 1996. It was also listed as one of the Songs of the Century in 2001 and ranked No. 100 in the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Songs poll in 2004 of the top songs in American cinema.
"Sing a Sad Song" is a song written by Wynn Stewart. It was recorded notably by Merle Haggard in 1963, whose version became his first major hit. It was later recorded by Stewart himself. In 1976, Stewart's own version became a major hit as well.
"Honesty" is a song by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released by Columbia Records as the third US single from his sixth studio album 52nd Street (1978) in 1979. "Honesty" was solely written by Joel, while production was handled by Phil Ramone. The song appears on the Dutch and Japanese editions of Greatest Hits Volume 2, replacing "Don't Ask Me Why" (1980).
"Hey! DJ" is a song by The World's Famous Supreme Team. Writing is credited to Larry Price, Ronald Larkins Jr., and Malcolm McLaren and it was produced by Stephen Hague. Released on 12" in 1984 on Island Records, there were three mixes included. The song refers to McLaren's previous hit "Buffalo Gals", which the group featured on. "Hey DJ" peaked at number fifteen on the US soul chart.
"Zanzibar" is a song written by Billy Joel and recorded for his 1978 album 52nd Street. It has also appeared on several live albums.
The Lords of 52nd Street is a rock band that primarily comprises members of the line-up which backed singer-songwriter Billy Joel from 1976 to 1981, the period during which Joel initiated a run of albums that reached the top ten on the Billboard charts.
James Boyer was an American audio engineer, known for having recorded and mixed many recordings including Billy Joel's The Stranger, 52nd Street and The Nylon Curtain, and the soundtracks for Yentl and Silkwood, as well as producing Billy Joel's The Matter of Trust: A Bridge to Russia, Rupert Holmes' Partners in Crime and Peter Cetera's Peter Cetera.
Billy Boy & Mary Lou is a studio album by American country music artists Bill Anderson and Mary Lou Turner. It was released in June 1977 on MCA Records and was produced by Buddy Killen. It was the duo's second studio album together since pairing up as a duet team in the mid 1970s. The album produced two singles between 1977 and 1978. It would be the duo's final studio album together.
"Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" is a song written by Rodney Crowell. It has since been covered by several artists, notably La Costa, Emmylou Harris and Lynn Anderson. Crowell claims to have written "Even Cowgirls Get The Blues" about Harris and her pal Susanna Clark. The title of the song is taken from the then-popular novel of the same name by author Tom Robbins. The song has been released as a single twice and has also appeared on albums of various artists.
Greatest Hits – Volume I & Volume II is the first greatest hits album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on July 1, 1985. The album has been certified double diamond by the RIAA, selling over 11.5 million copies as sixth most certified album of all time in the US. The album includes hits from 1973 to 1985 in chronological order with one exception. Some foreign pressings include "Honesty" in place of "Don't Ask Me Why".
