Billy Joel In The Studio For The Stranger 40th Anniversary

Billy Joel's 40th anniversary of his career-breaking album "The Stranger" is celebrated on the latest episode of the syndicated radio show
In The Studio with Redbeard: The Stories Behind History's Greatest Rock Bands. The show sent over these details:

Prior to the release of The Stranger in Fall 1977, Billy Joel had experienced his share of struggle, but his mental toughness, no doubt a product of his semi-professional boxing career, had prepared him to fight for his career. Joel tells

In The Studio host Redbeard about how he's battled through being typecast as simply a pop singles songwriter. Joel said, "If I was somebody out there who never knew Billy Joel's album work, but just knew me for my singles, I don't know if I'd be that crazy about me.... I was kinda laboring in obscurity to an extent, and when The Stranger album did hit, it became crystal clear to me what I wanted to do."

The Stranger album would be the first of a string of multi-platinum records for Joel. Songs like, "Just The Way You Are", "Movin' Out", "She's A Woman to Me" and "Only the Good Die Young" would catapult Joel into music's A-list and ultimately into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame, becoming third only to The Beatles and Elvis Presley as the top-selling artist in U.S. history. Stream the episode here.

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