Billy Joel was inducted into the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2006, and now one of his old bands will also be given the honor.
The Hassles, Billy’s first band to get a major label record deal, will be inducted at a ceremony June 28. Doing the honors will be Liberty DeVitto, who played drums with Billy once he became a solo artist. Tickets for the ceremony are on sale now. Visit limusichalloffame.org for more information.
Billy joined The Hassles in 1966 on keyboards and eventually vocals. They released two albums: their 1967 self-titled debut and 1969’s Hour of the Wolf. The first album featured two original songs by Billy; he wrote or cowrote every track on the second album. While the band members were local heroes and were very popular as a live act, neither of their albums did very well.
Billy and The Hassles’ drummer Jon Small eventually left The Hassles to form a Led Zeppelin-influenced heavy metal duo called Attila, whose one and only album also flopped. Attila split after Billy fell in love with Jon’s wife, Elizabeth Weber, which fractured their friendship. Two songs by The Hassles and one from Attila are included on the 2005 Billy Joel box set My Lives.
Billy’s time with The Hassles and what happened afterward is extensively documented in Billy Joel: And So It Goes, the two-part HBO documentary on Billy’s life and career that will air later this summer.
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