1/5/2023 0 Comments Club karma sutra philadelphiaHe was soon signed to producer Artie Ripp's Family Productions, a Los Angeles label, and moved to California to record his first solo album. Having decided that his future lay in writing songs for others, Joel began composing material for a demo album in 1971. The hospital visit steeled his resolve to make it in Rock 'n' Roll. After three weeks, the doctors were satisfied with Billy's progress and released him. When that didn't solve the problem, he committed himself to the mental ward at Meadowbrook Hospital and quickly discovered that his problems were all self-made. Joel fell back onto hard times and the distraught young man attempted suicide by drinking furniture polish. To add to their troubles, Billy had begun a romance with Small's wife, Elizabeth, and upon discovery (and punch to Billy's face by Jon), the duo broke up. Epic Records released an LP called simply "Attila" early in 1970, which was an immediate bomb. Joel played his organ through a variety of effects pedals, creating a heavy Psychedelic/Hard-Rock album completely without guitars. Discouraged at their lack of success, Billy, along with Hassles's drummer Jon Small left group and formed a duo called Attila. The group cut two forgettable albums in the late sixties, "The Hassles" and "Hour Of The Wolf". In 1967 he left the band to join The Hassles, a local Long Island Rock 'n' Roll outfit that had signed a contract with United Artists Records. During this time The Echoes started to play numerous late night shows and Billy's musical commitments occupied all of his time. He played piano on several recordings that George 'Shadow' Morton produced, as well as several records released through Kama Sutra Productions. In 1965, when he was just 16 years old, Billy began to do some studio work. The charges were dropped but a terrifying night in jail did little to build a happy outlook on life. Joel, still struggling against his shabby economic and social circumstances, was denied his high school diploma due to excessive absenteeism, ran away from home and was arrested on suspicion of burglary. The band soldiered on as The Lost Souls, and for a short time, U.S. Less than a year later, after two failed singles, Mercury dropped them. The moniker that the record company came up with was The Commandos, which the band hated but had little choice but to use. Before signing them, Mercury insisted on yet another name change, as an English band was already using the name Lost Souls. At this point they found a manager named Dick Ryan, who secured an audition with Mercury Records. Briefly they were Billy Joe And The Hydros before becoming The Lost Souls. After someone pointed out that a 1950s era band, who had a hit with a song called "Baby Blue", was also called The Echoes, the group went through a couple of name changes. Bedecked with blue jackets and velvet collars in knock-off Beatles fashion, they played at the Holy Family Church teen club on a regular basis. Eventually, he met The Echoes, a group that specialized in British Invasion covers. Upon seeing the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, Joel decided to pursue a full-time musical career and set about finding a local Long Island band to join. Never having taken to his parents' musical predilections (his father was a classically trained pianist), Billy fancied Boogie-Woogie, Rock 'n' Roll, and early Soul. Suddenly, the pansy piano lessons his father and mother made him take as a youngster seemed pardonable. When the spirit of the British Invasion blew across the country in the early sixties, Joel became convinced that he too could achieve coolness by performing in a band. For the early years of his adolescence, he divided his time between studying piano and fighting. He fought a total of 22 fights as a teenager and during one of the fights, he had his nose broken. For Billy, the alienation he felt living in the oppressive suburban development erupted into rebellion, sprees of gang crime, general anti-social hell-raising, and boxing as a welterweight. His father, Howard, a Jew who immigrated to New York via Cuba after surviving internment in the Dachau concentration camp, settled his wife Rosalind and their two children in Levittown, New York, where the seeds of young Billy's discontent took root. Born May 9 th, 1949, William Martin Joel was a belligerent hood during his youth.
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