2014年7月15日 星期二

Billy Joel's beloved mother passes away at the age of 92

The mother of singer-songwriter Billy Joel, who inspired him to write Rosalinda's Eyes, has died in New York at the age of 92.

Rosalind Nyman Joel died Sunday on Long Island, said Claire Mercuri, a spokeswoman for the award-winning singer.

Rosalinda's Eyes from Joel's 1978 album 52nd Street was a tribute to his mother, who raised him alone after divorcing his father, Howard Joel, in 1957.
Sad day: Billy Joel's beloved mother Rosalind passed away on Sunday at the age of 92, pictured together in 2008 in Miami

The lyrics include the words: 'I've got music in my hands; The work is hard to find; But that don't get me down; Rosalinda understands.'

Rosalind worked in a clerical capacity for various businesses near her home in Hicksville, Long Island, and supported a number of charities.

Born in Brooklyn to English emigrants, she met her husband in 1942 at a City College musical production and married him three years later. Their son, Billy, was born in 1949. The couple later adopted Judy, the daughter of Rosalind's late sister Muriel.
Working woman: Rosalind worked in a clerical capacity for various businesses near her home in Hicksville, Long Island, and supported a number of charities
'My mother was the one who paid for the piano lessons. My dad didn't really push me because he wasn't around,' Joel said in an interview with told Alec Baldwin in 2010.

'I would have been quite happy not to take piano lessons at all. [But] every week, even after [my parents] split up my mother was the one who pushed me to take the piano lessons. I don't know where she got the money from because it was like $10 a pop for a lesson... coming out of, I don't know, $120-$130 bucks a week.

In lieu of flowers, the family requested that donations be made to The Little Shelter animal rescue and adoption center in Huntington, Long Island.

From: the Daily Mail

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