Would you ever think of putting Billy Joel and heroin in the same sentence?
During a two-hour interview with Howard Stern Monday, the "Piano Man" singer discussed his career, family, and his monthly performances at Madison Square Garden. In front of 150 people at The Cutting Room in Midtown, NYC, the legendary singer also admitted to trying heroin.
In the candid one-on-one sit-down, the 64-year-old singer said he tried heroin once, but became so scared that he never touched it again. His experience with the toxic drug reportedly inspired the song "Scandinavian Skies" from his 1982 album "The Nylon Curtain."
"This was back in the late '70s I think. We were in Amsterdam, and there was all this stuff going on, so I said, 'Let me see what this is like,'" Joel said, according to an account of the interview published by Rolling Stone. "It got me so high, I didn't know how to deal with it. You just get way out, just go to another place, and you're into the blues. All you want to hear is the blues. You start drooling, and you get sick."
According to the New York Daily News, Joel also joked around about almost forming a super-group with legendary hit makers Sting and Don Henley and "another guitarist."
"I liked being in a band," he told the audience. "Someday we might put together a silly supergroup."
The three-hour event aired live on Howard's SiriusXM radio show and included performances by Tony Bennett, Melissa Etheridge, and Pink, with whom Joel performed a duet version of "She's Always a Woman". Pink walked down the aisle to the song when she got married in 2006.
"You changed my life. ... You were like a god that I prayed to. ... I am, too, a Jew who got baptized," Pink said. "I got to see my dad get happy when your songs came on."
Joel does not have plans to release new music but said he is in the process of recording a Christmas song with Johnny Mathis. The "Captain Jack" singer also took questions from the audience, including one from Rachael Ray that asked who his favorite "Piano Man" was?
Joel answered Ray Charles, then told an anecdote from the first time they'd met - the famed Georgia pianist reportedly touched Joel's face and instantly knew "The Entertainer" singer was nervous.