Billy Joel Band

Billy Joel Band
Billy Joel Band performing in 2014
Background information
Origin	Long Island, New York, United States
Genres	Rock, Pop
Years active	1971–Present
Labels	Columbia Records, Family Productions
Website	billyjoel.com
Members	Billy Joel Tommy Byrnes Chuck Burgi David Rosenthal Mark Rivera Crystal Taliefero Carl Fischer Andy Cichon Mike DelGuidice
Past members	Richie Cannata Liberty DeVitto Doug Stegmeyer Dave Lebolt David Brown Russell Javors Jeff Bova Jeff Jacobs Patrick McDonald Larry Russell Rhys Clark Don Evans Al Hertzberg Ron Tutt Tom Whitehorse Howard Emerson Tom Wolk Rudi Dobson Schuyler Deale Mindy Jostyn Louis L. Gregory David Santos

The Billy Joel Band is the band that backs singer-songwriter and pianist Billy Joel on both studio and live recordings. The band stabilized around 1975 but has undergone several significant lineup changes beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Joel's touring band didn't begin playing on his records until he recorded the album Turnstiles in 1976. This line-up included Richie Cannata on saxophones and organ, Liberty DeVitto on drums, Russell Javors on guitar, and Doug Stegmeyer on bass.

The band, which now no longer includes any of its original members, is often not recognized as a formal entity, and is instead referred to simply as Billy Joel's band.

Joel's first touring band, formed in 1971 to support the Cold Spring Harbor album, comprised Rhys Clark on drums, Al Hertzberg on guitar, and Larry Russell on bass. The group toured throughout the United States and in Puerto Rico.

The touring lineup changed and it took a few years for the lineup to stabilize. In an online interview, DeVitto describes how Joel's classic late 1970s-early 1980s band first came together:

Billy and I used to play the same club in Plainview, Long Island, called My House. He was 17 and in a band called The Hassles and I was 16 and in a band called The New Rock Workshop. We would watch each other play and acknowledge each other in passing. In 1974, he was living in Los Angeles and had already released Piano Man and Streetlife Serenade. He used studio musicians for the recording and different guys out on the road. I was playing in a band called Topper with Doug Stegmeyer and he got the gig to play bass with Billy on the “Streetlife” tour. [Billy] told Doug that he wanted to move back to New York and find a permanent band he could record and tour with on a regular basis. Doug recommended me because Billy was looking for a New York-type drummer, aggressive and hard hitting, and the rest is history. The three of us recorded the basic tracks for Turnstiles and we both recommended Russell Javors and Howie Emerson, who played guitars in Topper and with the addition of Richie Cannata on saxophone, the “Billy Joel Band” was born.