If Billy Joel had his way, he would put together a rock equivalent of the Highwaymen. The music icon teased he considered teaming up with some other big names in the genre.
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Appearing on The Howard Stern Show, Joel detailed that he considered putting together a supergroup. Joel specifically mentioned partnering with Sting as well as Don Henley for the hypothetical band.
“I thought about putting together a band: me, Don Henley, and Sting, and maybe John Mayer on guitar,” Joel said. The only issue is everyone is so busy with their own solo careers that they don’t have the time. “[But] everybody’s busy … You always say to the other guys, ‘Yeah, I’ll see you on the road. We’ll get together’ — and you never do it.’”
That being said, Joel will be appearing with Sting soon. The singer is joining Sting as well as Stevie Nicks and Rod Stewart for a stadium tour. Commenting on his hypothetical super group, Howard Stern suggested Joel invite his friend Paul McCartney to join as well. However, Joel said he would feel too intimidated to ask McCartney to be a part of it.
“He was in the super-est group of all-time,” Joel explained with a laugh. “I don’t have the nerve to do that. I can’t.” However, Stern didn’t let Joel change the subject. He offered to ask McCartney on Joel’s behalf to join the band.
“You want me to say something to this guy?” he asked.
“You can say whatever you like. Go ahead,” Joel replied.
Billy Joel Talks Supergroup
As for his drummer, Billy Joel said that he would just have a full Beatles reunion.
“Ringo [Starr] would be good,” Joel continued. “He’s a great drummer. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves — he was phenomenal … He didn’t get in the way of the great writing and the novel productions they did — he played the right thing, which is sometimes the hardest thing to do.”
As for the hypothetical band’s guitarist, Joel considered Jeff Beck. However, the guitarist recently passed away. Instead, Joel threw Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page into the mix. “He’s a great musician,” Billy said. “Brilliant music.”
While it’s all for laughs, Stern at least seemed somewhat serious about having Joel actually put together the band.
“What a band I’m putting together,” Stern said. “If I pull this off, it will be the greatest accomplishment of my life.”
“Yeah, good luck Chuck,” Billy agreed.
[Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images]
