Happy birthday to the Piano Man himself. Billy Joel turned 76 years old on Friday, May 9, and the tributes were pouring in on social media.
Fellow singer Debbie Gibson posted an amazing throwback video to her Instagram stories where her younger, totally ’80s self talks about how much she loves Joel. On her stories, present-day Gibson wrote, “This was before I met Billy at The Grammys and shared the stage with him twice! Happy birthday to my all-time idol, @billyjoel,” which Joel reposted on his own Instagram stories.
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In fact, Joel’s Instagram stories are full of fans posting tributes to him on his birthday, overlaid with his greatest hits: “Piano Man,” “Vienna,” “Zanzibar,” “You May Be Right,” “I Go to Extremes,” “Only the Good Die Young,” “A Room of Our Own,” “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” and more.
One hilarious fan is all of us when she wrote, “My brain is half Billy Joel lyrics.”
Another fan added, “Happy birthday to the Piano Man, @billyjoel! From 1st concert in 1982 to Millennium @thegarden to 1st concert with our son at MSG… we all love #thepianoman!”
And one very ambitious fan wrote an Instagram post consisting of “76 reasons we love Billy Joel,” which truly does have 76 entries. One of the entries reads, “Saved my life more times than I can count. He has a special place in my heart.”
Perhaps the sweetest tribute is from Joel’s wife, Alexis Roderick, 43. She posted a series of photos of them with their two daughters, Della, 9, and Remy, 7, and wrote, “Happy birthday to the best husband and dad this group of girls could ask for! 🎈🎈🎈
We love you more than anything. You are our whole world, and we are so grateful for another trip around the sun with you! 🩷🩷🩷💙.”
Joel also shares his oldest daughter, Alexa Ray, 39, with ex-wife Christie Brinkley.
Over the course of his illustrious career, Joel has been nominated for 23 Grammys, winning five. In 1992, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame; in 1999, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; and in 2013, he was a Kennedy Center honoree.
