Billy Joel’s Romantic History: Piano Man’s Path to True Love
A tale spun in ivory and longing, the story of Billy Joel’s search for lasting love reads like a symphony of yearning. By Maya Rivers
Billy Joel has long traded melodies on the piano for the richer chords of romance, admitting in a 2002 Associated Press interview that love and family rank above stardom. From his early whirlwind courtship with Elizabeth Weber to his enduring marriage with Alexis Roderick, Joel’s life has been a musical score of hope, regret and redemption.
Joel’s first major relationship came in 1970, when he moved to New York with bandmate Jon Small and found himself drawn to Small’s wife, Elizabeth Weber. Inspired by Weber’s quiet strength, the young songwriter penned “She’s Got a Way” and later “She’s Always a Woman” and “Just the Way You Are.” According to the HBO documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes, Joel felt “guilty about being in love with a married woman,” a sentiment he recalled with rueful honesty. The two wed in a modest courthouse ceremony in September 1973, and Weber quietly guided Joel through the launch of his career after the 1973 release of Piano Man.
The partnership unraveled by 1980, ending officially in 1982. Fresh off this divorce, Joel crossed paths with Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson in St. Barts. The “staggeringly beautiful” towering figure—six feet to his five-foot-seven—became his muse and inspired the bittersweet “And So It Goes,” chronicling the ephemeral nature of infatuation when careers and distances collide.
Soon afterward Joel reached out to fellow divorcee Christie Brinkley, offering comfort after the tragic death of her then-boyfriend. Their reunion sparked the playful pop anthem “Uptown Girl,” with Brinkley starring in its music video and later marrying Joel in March 1985. Their union produced daughter Alexa Ray Joel, whose middle name paid tribute to Ray Charles, but Joel’s own admission of volatile behavior led to their split in 1994.
The ’90s saw Joel briefly date cookbook author Katie Lee, but the ingredients for a lifelong match proved uneven. He candidly told biographer Fred Schruers in his 2014 book Billy Joel that he regretted past missteps but never lost faith that “one person out of millions” would love him unconditionally.
That person turned out to be former investment analyst Alexis Roderick. The pair wed in 2015 and celebrated a decade of marriage this year, a milestone Joel calls his happiest period. Even while pausing his tour in 2023 after a diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus, he credits Roderick’s steadfast devotion for grounding him in the simplest joy of being loved just as he is.
From guilt-tinged beginnings to mature devotion, Billy Joel’s romantic history truly reads like an album of greatest hits. And thus the final chord rings out, leaving us eager for the next movement.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and E! News, Associated Press, Fred Schruers Biography, HBO Documentary
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
