Hudson Music
For quite some time, Billy Joel has been at odds with Liberty DeVitto, the drummer who played with him from 1975 to 2005: Their falling out was described as being over “musical differences.” However, it appears that the two have buried the hatchet, because Joel has penned the foreword for DeVitto’s upcoming memoir.
In his foreword for the book, called LIBERTY: Life, Billy and the Pursuit of Happiness, Joel writes of DeVitto and the rest of his original backing band, “We were as much a family unit as any other relationships we had formed during our lives. And, like our other families, we inflicted hurts and wounds on each other — never intending to cause lasting scars.”
But, Billy writes, “Reading this book has brought a flood of warm memories that I had long since forgotten, and which I now regret having allowed to lapse into shrouded history, along with other timeworn milestones of my past…Liberty and I have reconciled and reclaimed the friendship we felt for each other all those years ago. And I am a better man because of that.”
Of course, if you want to find out DeVitto’s side of the story, and what caused their initial breakup, you’ll have to read the book, which also tells his life story, details every hit he recorded with Joel, and describes life on tour back in those crazy days. It comes out July 14 and is available for pre-order.
In the book’s afterword, Liberty writes that he was the one who initiated the détente by emailing Billy, saying he wanted to bury the hatchet and asking if they could get together. Joel agreed, the two met, hashed things out and ended their meeting with hugs, kisses and expressions of love.
By Andrea Dresdale
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