December 13, 2011 9:36 AM

Billy Joel honored with Steinway Hall portrait

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Music

Billy Joel is honored with a Steinway Hall Portrait at Steinway Hall on Dec. 12, 2011, in New York.

(Credit: Getty Images)
(CBS/AP) Billy Joel is now only the second artist to have his portrait hanging at the New York home of piano maker Steinway and Sons.

The 62-year-old "Piano Man" joked he's not sure how late Russian pianist Vladimir Horowitz, one of Joel's idols, must feel about having his portrait so close.

Joel is also the only non-classical performer hanging at Steinway Hall, the piano maker's New York headquarters. He's shown wearing a leather jacket, and says it's one of the few items of clothing he's purchased without the help of a woman.

Joel wore the jacket for years, but says his current girlfriend, who's many years his junior, thinks of it as a relic from the 1980s. Joel is reportedly dating Alexis Roderick, who has worked for Morgan Stanley in Garden City, N.Y. According to the New York Daily News, they met last year at a restaurant on Long Island.


Add a Comment
by jensenlee100 December 14, 2011 6:53 AM EST
Billy Joel's 1982 blue collar anthem, "Allentown," was actually based on the neighboring city of Bethlehem; Allentown never had any steel mills. Joel wrote the chord progressions a decade earlier but struggled with the lyrics. The song was originally to be an ode to his hometown in Long Island, NY: Levittown. Rockaeology at http://******/v0jeM5 has the lyrics Joel first wrote for "Levittown."
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