Quote of the Day (Billy Joel, on Seeing Himself as ‘The Piano Player in the Band’)

“I'm a piano player. I never thought of myself as a singer, at all. I was always trying to sound like somebody else. I don't like my own voice, I like Ray Charles, Robert Plant, I like Joe Cocker, Rod Stewart, people that have an edge in their voice. I happened to sing in tune, I hope, but I always thought of myself as the piano player in the band. That, I suppose, I'm confident about, and I guess my songwriting developed as I went along and I got a certain amount of confidence in that. The songs are like my kids, I'm proud of all of them for one reason or another.”-- Billy Joel, quoted in Ray Waddell, “Backstage With Billy Joel: The Billboard Cover Story Interview (Exclusive),” Billboard Magazine, January 31, 2014

Happy 70^th birthday to the Piano Man! And, for a bit more information from yours truly on Billy Joel, try this other blog post of mine from last year on his 1983 LP, An Innocent Man.