The 'Piano Man' hitmaker announces on his website that his mother Rosalind Nyman Joel passed away on Sunday, July 13 at the age of 92.
- Jul 15, 2014
AceShowbiz - Billy Joel is mourning the death of his mother Rosalind Nyman Joel. The "Piano Man" hitmaker announced the sad news on his website on Monday, July 14, saying that his mother passed away the previous day at the age of 92.
Rosalind was born on Feb. 15, 1922 in Brooklyn. She met her husband Howard Joel in 1942. After serving at the U.S. Army in the World War II, Howard and Rosalind got married in 1946. The pair got divorced in 1957 and she did clerical work to support her family. Billy's song "Rosalinda's Eyes", featured in his 1978 album "52nd Street", is a tribute to his mother.
"We always knew he was talented as a kid," Rosalind told Newsday of her son at the opening of the Broadway musical, "Movin' Out", in 2002. "Am I excited? Sure, it's unbelievable ... But I'll tell you, after 30 years of this, you calm down after a while. To me, he's just a very talented boy and a very good son."
In addition to the veteran singer/songwriter, Rosalind is survived by a daughter Judy Molinari, a sister Bertha Miller and two granddaughters Alexa Ray Joel and Rebecca Molinari Gehrkin. Her family requests a donation to The Little Shelter in New York in lieu of flowers.
