I Go to Extremes: The Billy Joel Story by Bill Smith (2007) Hardcover

by Bill Smith

Rare book

320 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 2007

About the author

Bill Smith worked his way through undergraduate school firing steam locomotives on the railroad, then paid for graduate school as a dormitory resident advisor. Three years later, he was the acting chief of television for a branch of the Air Force in Washington, then acting assistant to the under secretary of a federal department. He was the founding executive director of a state wide public broadcasting network, a founder of a seventeen state public broadcasting system, and the recipient of the George Foster Peabody Award.

See more books by Bill Smith at www.bsmithbooks.com

Reviews

[Allan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously having been published in 2007 this does not cover more recent times. It is a biography written from a point of friendship and although this may provide better insight and detail, it perhaps lacks some objectivity. It does not however gloss over the trials and demons that have made Billy Joel one of the most successful singer, songwriter and performers of the last 50 years.
It is an interesting book if, like me, you are an admirer of Billy Joel's music and perhaps goes some way to demonstrating that great art is so often the result of adversity, personal challenges, loss, addiction and other people's treachery.