The stage Billy Joel has owned through more than five decades of sold-out shows is off limits for now, and so is the driver’s seat of his car.
Joel, 77, told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Thursday, Oct. 15, that he is not allowed to drive and cannot perform right now, following his 2025 diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), a rare brain disorder.
“I have to take a series of tests before I know, but I can’t drive right now. I’m not allowed to drive. And I can’t do performances because what the neurologist told me, every time you do a show, it’s like you’re getting a concussion,” Joel told the outlet.
Like a Concussion Every Show
Joel said his doctors have told him not to perform for now, and that any return depends on more testing. The Grammy winner, whose signature songs include “Piano Man” and “Uptown Girl,” has performed for more than five decades.
His health is otherwise good, Joel said, with the disorder mostly affecting his balance. He has already lost some hearing from years of loud rock music. The lighting, the sound, the stress of a concert and the energy of the crowd all add up, he said, and his doctors have told him he should not be doing it right now. He wants to be cleared to do it again.
Doctors Don’t Know the Cause
Joel has said doctors “don’t really know” what caused the condition. “I thought it must be from drinking,” he said on Bill Maher’s podcast “Club Random” in 2025.
Joel fell onstage during a performance at Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun resort in February 2025. He postponed four months of tour dates in March, then announced the diagnosis in May 2025 and canceled all upcoming shows, among them UK stadium concerts at Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium and Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium.
A statement on his Instagram page at the time said recent concerts had worsened the condition, that he was having trouble with hearing, vision and balance, and that he was undergoing specific physical therapy on his doctor’s instructions, who advised him not to perform while recovering.
A Small Tube in His Brain
Surgeons implanted a shunt in Joel’s brain, a small tube that reroutes extra fluid away. NPH occurs when cerebrospinal fluid builds up inside the skull, pressing on the brain and disrupting how a person thinks. The condition, once called water on the brain, affects balance, memory, vision and hearing.
On SiriusXM’s “The Billy Joel Channel” on Sept. 9, Joel said the surgery worked, that his memory had improved, that his balance was a little better and that he was functioning better. What first sent him to a neurologist was a rocking sensation, he said, like standing on a boat. On the same podcast, Joel said the condition was not fixed and was still being worked on, and that he felt good at the time. He continues physical therapy and is closely following his doctors’ instructions.
The Bonneville With a Keyboard
Joel closed 20th Century Cycles, his Long Island motorcycle shop where the collection was stored and displayed, in 2025. He is sending more than 70 bikes from his personal collection to a Gooding Christie’s auction in New York on Nov. 20 and 21, with the proceeds going to the Joel Foundation. The motorcycles are on display at the Javits Center in New York ahead of the sale.
David Gooding, the Gooding Christie’s founder, told Fox News Digital the sale’s highlight is a 1978 Triumph T140 Bonneville that Madison Square Garden gave Joel to mark 150 sold-out shows. The bike is expected to bring $10,000 to $15,000.
“He still holds the record for the most sold out show of anyone ever at Madison Square Garden. And this bike is painted with a keyboard on the tank. It’s really, really a special, special item,” Gooding said.
Joel, now into his 70s, cannot ride as much as he once did, and the diagnosis has made getting behind the wheel dicey, which is why he decided to hand the bikes to someone else. He has never considered himself a collector, he said, but a rider who loved the anonymity and loved tinkering with the customizing and the modifications.
“I ended up having over a hundred motorcycles, and the truth is you can only ride one at a time,” Joel said.
“I don’t want to die like a bug on a windshield,” Joel said.
