Another Celebrity Biker

by John Stumpner

Many celebrities like to associate themselves with bikers when it suits themselves to boost their popularity. However, as has been said before, many celebrities are also bikers. One of these celebrity bikers is singer/songwriter Billy Joel.

Born in 1949 in New York City, Billy Joel has been active as a musician, singer and songwriter since the mid 1960’s. His nickname “Piano Man,” comes from the title of one of his early and most popular songs. Over the years, Billy Joel has had 33 Top 40 songs, including 3 number one songs, all of which he wrote himself. He has received numerous awards for his music and concerts, including one award for playing more sold-out concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City than any other entertainer. Billy Joel continues to tour and entertain audiences at sold-out shows to this day. While he did try living in California for a while, to be close to the entertainment industry, he has remained true to his New York roots and currently has his home on Long Island.

Billy Joel has been riding motorcycles since 1977. When he started riding, he thought life couldn’t get any better than on his Yamaha 400 Special, until he moved up to a Yamaha 750 Virago, and later a Harley Davidson Sportster. He currently favors Italian made Ducatis and Moto Guzzis. His motorcycle collection is on display for free, at his motorcycle shop, 20th Century Cycles. Although he does not sell motorcycles out of 20th Century Cycles, his shop has made custom motorcycles, including one for Billy Joel’s fellow musician and biker, Bruce Springsteen.

In 1982, a car ran a red light resulting with Billy Joel getting severe injuries to both hands. At the time he was working on a new album. In true biker fashion, after a few months of recovery, he was back in the studio and finished working on the album. The album, “The Nylon Curtain,” was immensely popular and is the work Billy Joel is most proud of.

An interesting note, especially considering this difficult election year, is about Billy Joel’s political leanings. He tends to lean toward Democratic Party candidates and occasionally will do benefit concerts for political causes. However, his opinion on combining politics and entertainment is best described by his statement, “People who pay for your tickets, I don’t think they want to hear who you’re going to vote for and how you think they should vote.”

August 9th is primary election day in Wisconsin. Hopefully, the adults you know remembered to vote. Everyone has the right and duty to vote and when the votes are counted, everyone’s vote counts the same as everyone else’s. In this way, the lowliest ABATE member has the same influence as the most famous celebrity

John