Billy Joel has revealed he can no longer drive.
The news comes in the wake of his diagnosis with a rare brain disorder.
“I’m not allowed to drive,” the music icon told the Hollywood Reporter.
As a consequence, Joel revealed he’s auctioning off more than 70 of his motorbikes.
“I ended up having over a hundred motorcycles, and the truth is you can only ride one at a time,” the Uptown Girl singer explained. “I’m into my 70s now, and I realised I can’t ride as much as I used to.
“I don’t want to die like a bug on a windshield. So I thought I’d put a lot of them on auction.”
The Grammy Award winner noted that his Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH) diagnosis “makes driving a little bit iffy”, so he came to the conclusion that it was time “to turn it over to somebody else”.
“I love motorcycles. I love biking. I love driving. I love the anonymity of it,” Joel continued. “And I love the customisation of these bikes, the modifications, the messing around with things. I was not a collector. I was actually a rider. So I figured it was just time to let it go.”
Last year, Joel was diagnosed with NPH, a disorder that occurs when cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) builds up inside the skull and presses on the brain.
Joel also explained to the outlet that he can’t perform right now because his neurologist told him that “every time you do a show, it’s like you’re getting a concussion”.
The Piano Man has to “take a series of tests” before he knows if he can perform again.
