ROCK AND ROLL

Billy Joel, 77, Gives Health Update

The singer of “Piano Man” says he’s under doctors’ orders to avoid performing and driving.

Billy Joel, 77, says he does not know whether he will perform again after his neurologist told him that each show is “like you’re getting a concussion.” In a new Hollywood Reporter interview, the “Piano Man” singer said he is currently not allowed to drive or perform while he undergoes further testing. Joel disclosed in May 2025 that he had normal pressure hydrocephalus, a fluid buildup in the brain that can affect memory, movement, concentration, vision, and balance. The five-time Grammy winner had undergone surgery earlier that year and canceled all scheduled concerts after the diagnosis. “Rock and roll is loud, man,” he said, referring to the doctor’s reasoning. “[It] made me deaf already. So it’s the lighting, the sound, the stress of the show, the audience, the energy of the performance.” Joel also said he’s now auctioning off over 70 motorcycles, which he loved because they let him freely travel almost anonymously with goggles on. But he “doesn’t want to die like a bug on a windshield,” the singer joked. He has three daughters—8, 11, and 40—one with ex-wife model Christie Brinkley and two with his current wife, 44-year-old former Wall Street executive Alexis Roderick.