Billy Joel opens up about ‘history' that led to ‘Uptown Girl'

Billy Joel just talked about the creation of one of his iconic songs, Uptown Girl.

In the trailer of his new upcoming documentary, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, a glimpse features a new one-on one interview with the music icon, along with some unseen performances, home movie clips and personal pictures.

One thing that was revealed in the trailer was that even though Billy made his name as a pop-rock singer-songwriter, Joel’s musical roots lie in a more traditional genre.

“My own history as a musician started with me hearing classical music,” he could be heard saying. “Uptown Girl… it could’ve been a Mozart piece.”

The video then cuts to the Piano Man hitmaker playing Uptown Girl on his piano, tying it together with a touch of an Amadeus melody to illustrate his point.

Originally released in 1983, Uptown Girl was a global hit, starring supermodel Christie Brinkley, who later became Billy’s second wife and is also featured in the documentary.

In the trailer legendary musicians can also be seen praising the Honesty singer, with Bruce Springsteen saying, “Billy’s melodies are better than mine.”

While the Beatles icon, Sir Paul McCartney revealed that “when I first heard Billy it was like, ‘Wait a minute - who’s this?’”

It is also pertinent to mention that currently, Billy Joel is battling a serious and rare brain disorder that even forced him to cancel all of his scheduled live performances for the rest of 2025 and even into 2026.

“I think music saved my life… it gave me a reason to live,” he says in the trailer, and it would be safe to assume that his fan base would be hoping that he can do the same again as he tries to recover from his ailing health.