As a bit woman, Alexa Ray Joel would slip into costumes handed over by supermodel mother Christie Brinkley, then prance round performing Disney musicals like Aladdin and The Little Mermaid. Her co-star in these whimsical dwelling productions? Billy Joel.
“We were three theater music nerds putting on musicals around the house,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I would play the characters, and Dad would accompany me. Ever since I was born, it was music, music, music. He would also sing to me while I sat on the piano.”
Now, as Billy continues taking day off whereas fighting a brain disorder, Alexa Ray would be the one serenading him at Thursday’s tribute occasion The Music of Billy Joel. The fundraiser, organized by promoter Michael Dorf, will see her take the stage at New York’s Carnegie Hall to carry out tracks from Billy’s decades-long discography alongside Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas, Matt Nathanson, Train’s Pat Monahan, Sammy Rae, Rufus Wainwright, O.A.R.’s Mark Roberge, Jon McLaughlin, Wyclef Jean and extra.
And because of Alexa Ray’s insistence, the 76-year-old “homebody” plans to attend. “I said, ‘Dad, you better be there! This is Carnegie Hall. Everyone’s paying tribute to you, and it’s an amazing group of artists,’” says the 40-year-old singer-songwriter. “He was like, ‘Let me mark that down.’ He’s very organized along with his little calendar.
“He was so excited when he first played Carnegie Hall in the ‘70s, so it’s exciting for him to come back decades later and see amazing artists and his daughter pay tribute to him. It’s a full-circle moment.”
It’s additionally music to the ears of followers who’ve fearful concerning the legend since his May 2025 announcement that he was canceling tour dates after being diagnosed with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus. The neurological situation impacts steadiness, imaginative and prescient and listening to and prompted Billy to tumble onstage months earlier.
Talking completely with THR, Alexa Ray beams with delight sharing Billy’s spectacular efforts to overtake his well being.
“He’s doing physical therapy regularly and he’s doing great. He’s lost weight as he’s on his diet,” she says. “I’m so proud of him. He’s such a trooper, so resilient and committed to being healthy and proactive. He’s a fighter. He’s always been a fighter and talks in his documentary about how life’s like a fight.”
He’s additionally a dad (Billy has two different daughters with spouse Alexis Roderick Joel — Della Rose, 10, and Remy, 8) who doesn’t need his children worrying, which is why he urged Alexa Ray to not watch movies of the Mohegan Sun present, the place he fell after a microphone spin. But she’s additionally a daughter who doesn’t all the time take heed to her mother and father, so she watched anyway.
“He played it down,” she says. “He knows I have anxiety and am a neurotic worrier, so he was like, ‘Everything’s fine. It was just a little trip.’ When I saw the footage, I was crying. But then I went with him to the doctors, and we’re on top of everything. I just tell him to stay healthy.”
While Billy wouldn’t be Billy if he didn’t hope to make a touring comeback, Alexa Ray has handed over some guidelines to the piano man, who briefly returned to the stage to perform with a covers band in January.
“Once a performer, always a performer!” she says. “But health comes first. I said, ‘If you’re going to perform again, please stay seated at the piano. No throwing the microphone stand around!’”
As Billy focuses on his well being, Alexa Ray continues orchestrating her personal musical path along with her newest EP, Tales From a Winding Tower.
Having mastered songwriting, piano and poetry by age 15, she launched her first EP at 20 and was quickly enjoying festivals like Bonnaroo, New York residencies and occasions with Billy. Like many following the footsteps of well-known mother and father, she grappled with the expectations shadowing her surname.
“When I began out, I did really feel that stress, therefore my first single — ‘Notice Me.’ There was a desperation and sense of, ‘Look at me. I have something of my own to offer.’ I had lots to show and was craving validation. I consider Dad’s tune, ‘Pressure,’ and I undoubtedly felt that.
“Now that I’ve dug my heels into the industry and become more comfortable with asserting my own voice, some of that pressure’s died down. Thinking ‘I have to live up to the last name’ is so unhealthy. I struggle with anxiety and depression, so if I lean too much into the pressure, it drives me crazy.”
Still, it’s an “endless process” carving out her personal journey. Her greatest classes have been to experiment, benefit from the journey and embrace her personal voice.
“That’s important for all independent artists or any creative that comes from famous lineage. You have to be your biggest supporter and focus on your vision because there’ll always be naysayers, social media and white noise.”
Billy encourages her to “do your own thing.” Describing her father as a “musical thesaurus,” he stays her biggest educator.
She will get a kick out of wowing him — like that point she covered “Just the Way You Are” for a Gap campaign. Billy suggested reconsidering her slower, mellow method. “He’s extra tempo-driven, so he’s like, ‘Let’s preserve the tempo going. Keep the group snapping their fingers.’ I mentioned, ‘No. If I do it the same way as you, it’s not going to face out. I can’t say I put my stamp on it.’
“He was trepidatious, then I recorded it with this romantic, sweet sound and he was crazy about it. He said, ‘Hey, you proved me wrong.’ That was fun because I love being able to stick it to dad a little!”
Likewise, with Alexa Ray’s rock-fueled 2025 single “Riverside Way,” she unexpectedly shocked Billy, who she thought could be extra into her swoony newest tune, “Heavy Eyes.”
“He said, ‘How the hell did you come up with that?’ It’s very different from his style and a detour from what I write, but I wanted to be more wild and he loved it,” says Alexa Ray, whose subsequent single, “Only Just a Moment,” is an ethereal ballad. “He’s hard to please. He likes the classics — The Beatles, Elton John, Carole King — so the moments I’m able to surprise him stand out.”
Alexa Ray additionally plans to shock Billy at the event, overlaying a observe she’s by no means carried out earlier than. The live performance’s proceeds, which exceed $200,000, will profit organizations offering music teaching programs to underserved youth, resembling Belongó and Midori & Friends. Those snapping up remaining VIP packages can attend soundcheck, rehearsals and dinner at City Winery with the performers.
And whereas the night will salute Billy’s monumental mark on music, it’s his function as a dad which is dearest to Alexa Ray. What’s the icon like as a father? “He’s just dad in a baseball cap, whistling around the house and joking around,” she says with fun. “He loves his daughters and he’s just … dad.”
Or when his ladies want him to be, he’s simply Aladdin.
