Billy Joel stopped writing songs to avoid ‘diluting’ his legacy

Billy Joel stopped writing new songs because he feared “diluting his legacy”.

In a new interview with musician Rick Beato for his YouTube channel, the singer-songwriter recalled how he “felt like (he) was done” after he released his twelfth studio album, River of Dreams, in August 1993.

“I didn’t want to do it. I was married (to Christie Brinkley), I had a child (Alexa Ray Joel). I didn’t want to lock myself in a cave and devote myself like a monk to writing anymore,” he said. “‘(I thought), ‘You know what? The Beatles had 12 albums.’ And that was just enough for me.”

The Piano Man hitmaker went on to argue that some artists who continue to put out new music will “dilute their legacy”.

“Maybe they’re not as good as they used to be or they’re not as motivated as they were, but it ends up trailing off,” the 77-year-old continued. “I didn’t want to go like that.”

While Joel doesn’t plan to drop any new songs, he unveiled classical music album Fantasies & Delusions in 2001 and the single, Turn the Lights Back On, in 2024.

“I was ready to do that and it was something I had to get out of my system,” he added of Fantasies & Delusions. “I didn’t want to just keep beating a dead horse and being played because I was Billy Joel. I wanted it to be good, and I recognised that I didn’t have the same motivation that I used to have so I said, ‘Stop. Don’t kill it.'”

Elsewhere in the conversation, Joel recounted how Linda Ronstadt encouraged him to record one of his biggest hits, 1977’s Just the Way You Are, after he originally labelled it “too soft, too mushy”.

“I said, ‘I don’t like this song that much,'” the music icon remembered. “Linda Ronstadt goes, ‘Are you out of your mind? That’s a hit record!” You got to put that on the album. That’s a great song.’ She talked me into it… So, I have to thank Linda Ronstadt for that song.”

In 2025, Joel was diagnosed with the neurological condition normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), which caused problems with his hearing, vision, and balance.

The Uptown Girl star cancelled all upcoming concerts, but in a later interview, confirmed his condition had improved.