Piano Man Billy Joel's beloved mother Rosalind Joel passed away last Sunday night due to natural causes, a friend of the family told Headline & Global News at HNGN.com on condition of anonymity.
The 92-year-old, who was the inspiration for at least two of the music man's hit songs, died in her longtime Long Island home surrounded by loved ones.
"She was a loving but intensely private person who loved antiques and spent her weekends rummaging at garage sales," said the family friend.
Rosalind Joel (née Nyman) was born in England to Philip and Rebecca Nyman, a Jewish couple who were leaning agnostic at the time of her birth. After World War II, Rosalind married German-born Helmuth Joel, who had survived Dachau and was a classically trained pianist of some note. The two met at City College of New York in Manhattan, where they were both singers in the Gilbert and Sullivan Player's group. Helmuth had only recently arrived in the United States via Cuba. In 1949, Rosalind gave birth to their prolific singer-songwriter son, William Martin "Billy" Joel. The couple divorced in 1960 when Helmuth returned to Europe to resume his piano and conducting careers. Rosalind was left to raise the family and - as Billy has frequently said - push him to continue his piano lessons by constant "practice, practice, practice."
"My mother was the one who paid for the piano lessons. My dad didn't really push me because he wasn't around," Billy told Alec Baldwin during an interview in 2010. "I would have been quite happy not to take piano lessons at all. [But] every week, even after they'd split up my mother was the one who pushed me to take the piano lessons. I don't know where she got the money from because it was like $10 a pop for a lesson... coming out of, I don't know, $120-$130 bucks a week."
In recent years Rosalind had become her son's frequent date at red carpet events, particularly during the time Billy was in between marriages to second wife Christie Brinkley and third wife, Katie Lee and again after his recent divorce from Lee. Joel also founded a music scholarship named after Rosaling at City College, and the two could frequently be seen dinning at Prime, a favorite eatery of theirs with an outdoor patio overlooking scenic Huntington Harbor.
Services are scheduled for today at Connell Funeral Home in Huntington, Long Island. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for donations to be sent to The Little Shelter Animal and Adoption Center at 33 Warner Road, Huntington, NY, 11743.
Billy Joel was currently on a concert tour and was due for rehearsals and a performance at Chicago's Wrigley Field this week, July 18.
—Additional reporting by Maxine Wally and Justin Stock.
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN UPDATED FROM LAST NIGHT'S BREAKING STORY, THE FIRST TO BE PUBLISHED, TO INCLUDE ADDITIONAL DETAILS.
