Trained as a classical pianist, Billy Joel used elements from classical music to write his songs.
This very interesting video shows you a 90 minutes interview with Billy.
He talks about how he writes songs, his favourite keys and the fact that he doesn't concider himself to be a singer.
       
Billy Joel has a background with a lot of music in it. His father was a classical pianist and Billy himself began piano lessons at a young age.
He started to sing in bands during high school and later on. Eventually he went solo. His songs have a lot of classical elements in it, inspired by the pieces of music Billy played during his piano lessons, like Chopin, Mozart and Beethoven. His voice can be characterized as a 'diamand in the rough'. From a technical point of view his vocal technique is not very well trained, but his voice produced is natural sound. Billy doesn't concider himself to be a singer, he's more like a story teller. |    
Many of his great songs, like New York State of Mind, Just the Way you are and The Piano Man can be found on his Greatest Hits Album: |
