Classic Rock
Billy Joel says he never liked his own voice
Born in New York City back in 1949, the singer and pianist Billy Joel became one of the most influential American musicians of all time. Since the early 70s he released 13 studio albums and sold an estimated amount of more than 160 million records worldwide.
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In an interview with John Mayer on his new radio show “How’s Life“, Joel revealed that he actually never really liked his own voice. That’s why he said that he was always trying to sound like someone else when singing.
Billy Joel says he never liked his own voice
“I always wanted to sing like somebody else — I never liked my own voice. I would go in the studio and I’d do a recording and I’d come back in the control room and listen and go ‘Oh God, it’s that guy.’ And I’d always be disappointed — no matter how good I thought the writing was, I never liked my own voice. Always wanted to sound like somebody else.”
As an example he mentioned names like Ray Charles, Sting and Elvis Costello, saying they have wonderful voices. Joel’s most recent album is “Fantasies & Delusions”, released in 2001. But that album has only classical compositions. His most recent album of “normal” songs was “River of Dreams”, released in 1993. He recently released a new single called “Turn The Lights Back On”.
The track was produced by the Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer Freddy Wexler. The song was written by Joel, Wexler, Arthur Bacon and Wayne Hector.
