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My Profile Top News Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day. Subscribe You are here: Home > News > Entertainment > Article Home Business & Finance News U.S. Politics International Technology Entertainment Film Music People Television Arts Industry Sports Lifestyle Oddly Enough Health Science Special Coverage Video Pictures Your View The Great Debate Blogs Weather Reader Feedback Do More With Reuters RSS Widgets Mobile Podcasts Newsletters Your View Make Reuters My Homepage Partner Services CareerBuilder Affiliate Network Professional Products Support (Customer Zone) Reuters Media Financial Products About Thomson Reuters Q&A: Turning 60, Billy Joel is "happy and contented" Fri May 8, 2009 4:41pm EDT Email | Print | Share | Reprints | Single Page [-] Text [+] By Ray Waddell NASHVILLE (Billboard) - It's April in Manhattan but winter is lingering, a fact Billy Joel notices as he looks out the window of his West Village townhouse. Joel is mildly surprised. "Oh, my God, it's snowing, look at this." Yet not much surprises Joel as he approaches his 60th birthday, taking a break from the massively successful Face 2 Face tour with Elton John. He has sold millions of records, has set multiple box-office records on tour, has endured personal and professional highs and lows, and has secured his place in rock 'n' roll history. Those who know him best say Joel's in a good place now, although that may not always have been the case. "It's a different Billy I'm seeing on this tour, a very happy and contented one," John says. "He's always been funny, always been razor-sharp, but this is a very happy and contented Billy, and I'm very happy that he's found that space to be in." Joel turns 60 on Saturday (May 9), a milestone he plans to mark not with a "wing-ding masquerade ball, no over-the-top rock 'n' roll affair, just a big family dinner." Joel seems, in a word, comfortable. He's generous with his time, warm and witty in his recollections and seemingly at peace. Billboard: Do you do any kind of assessment at this point of your life and career? Billy Joel: I'm not a looking-back kind of person. What I've realized about turning 60 is I'm not just one age, I'm every age I've ever been. Sometimes I'm 11, sometimes 16, sometimes I'm 25, sometimes I'm 38, sometimes I'm 42, sometimes I'm in my 50s. I'm all over the place. And it comes in handy, especially in this line of work. Billboard: Growing up in Hicksville, New York, was being a professional musician a dream of yours? Joel: Oh, yeah, I knew when I was a little boy I was going to have some kind of career with music, because I've loved music as long as I can remember. I just didn't know what form it would take. Hicksville is just a blue-collar area, working-class people. Most people after high school went into the service, some went on to college. Being a musician wasn't really a viable option for people from that neck of the woods. But, we were right next to New York City, so we got all that music coming out of New York. There were always great bands coming through, great music on the radio, always something exciting in New York City. I knew when I played my first gig in 1964, the same year the Beatles came out. I hooked up with a band (the Echoes) and played at a church dance. I just had such a blast doing it. We were making this great noise, this girl I had a crush on actually looked at me. And then at the end of the night the priest gave us each $15. I guess in 1964 that was like $15,000 to a kid that age. So I said, "That's it. That's what I'm doing." And there was never any question about it after that. Billboard: What kind of music did you love growing up? Joel: I liked all music. All my life I've loved rock 'n' roll, I've loved jazz, I've loved classical, I loved Broadway shows, blues, country, every kind of music I ever heard. And the Beatles kind of synthesized it for me when I saw these guys on "The Ed Sullivan Show." You have to remember, the Beatles hit in America right after (President John F. Kennedy) was assassinated. JFK was killed in November of 1963, the Beatles came here in February of '64, and this country had the blues. Especially young people. They took the young guy away from us and it was back to the old-boy network. And when the Beatles came, we all went nuts, because they were the alternative. I saw these four guys, working-class guys, from a town called Liverpool. What a name; that's worse than Hicksville. They weren't made in Hollywood, they weren't pretty boys. I mean, girls thought they were cute, but they weren't the typical Fabian types. They wrote their own songs, they played their own instruments, they were kind of like a little gang. And I said, "This is possible, this can be done." Continued... View article on single page Share: Del.icio.us Digg Mixx Yahoo! Facebook LinkedIn Next Article: Rapper offers free "Stimulus Package" also on reuters Blog: Economic crisis melts away the pounds Desperation often sinks high-income job seekers Video Video: Real savings in Obama's budget? More Entertainment News Financial crisis inspires Tori Amos' latest album | Video Jose Carreras announces retirement from opera "Star Trek" launched to robust advance screenings Christian Bale forces "Terminator" rewrite Sacha Baron Cohen's "Bruno" is "pushin' der limits" More Entertainment News... Editor's Choice Slideshow A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. 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