Billy Joel can no longer get behind the wheel of a car, and the stage he has stood on for decades is off limits too.
Joel, 77, told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Thursday, Oct. 15, that he is not allowed to drive and cannot perform right now, more than a year after doctors diagnosed him in 2025 with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), a rare brain disorder.
“I have to take a series of tests before I know, but I can’t drive right now. I’m not allowed to drive. And I can’t do performances because what the neurologist told me, every time you do a show, it’s like you’re getting a concussion,” he said.
His health is good otherwise, Joel said, with the disorder mostly affecting his balance. He has already lost some hearing to years of loud rock music. The lighting, the sound, the stress of a concert and the energy of the crowd are all part of the problem, he said.
The Night He Fell Onstage
Joel fell during a performance at Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun resort in February 2025. In March, he postponed four months of tour dates. In May 2025 he announced the diagnosis and canceled all upcoming shows, among them UK stadium concerts at Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium and Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium.
A statement on his Instagram page at the time said recent concerts had worsened the condition and that he was having trouble with hearing, vision and balance. He was undergoing specific physical therapy on his doctor’s instructions, the statement said.
A Small Tube in His Brain
Surgeons implanted a shunt in Joel’s brain, a small tube that reroutes extra fluid away. Normal pressure hydrocephalus occurs when cerebrospinal fluid builds up inside the skull, presses on the brain and disrupts how a person thinks. The condition was once called water on the brain, and it affects balance, memory, vision and hearing.
Joel said on SiriusXM’s “The Billy Joel Channel” on Sept. 9 that the surgery worked, that his memory had improved, that his balance had improved a little and that he was functioning better. What first sent him to a neurologist, he said, was a rocking sensation, as if he were standing on a boat. On Bill Maher’s podcast “Club Random” in 2025, Joel said the condition was not fixed and was still being worked on, though he felt good at the time.
On the same podcast, Joel said doctors “don’t really know” what caused it. “I thought it must be from drinking,” he said. He continues physical therapy and is closely following his doctors’ instructions.
A Keyboard Painted on the Tank
Joel closed 20th Century Cycles, his Long Island motorcycle shop, where the collection was stored and displayed, in 2025. He is now sending more than 70 bikes from his personal collection to a Gooding Christie’s auction in New York on Nov. 20 and 21, with proceeds going to the Joel Foundation. The motorcycles are on display at the Javits Center in New York ahead of the sale.
David Gooding, the Gooding Christie’s founder, told Fox News Digital that the highlight is a 1978 Triumph T140 Bonneville, a gift to Joel from Madison Square Garden marking 150 sold-out shows. “He still holds the record for the most sold out show of anyone ever at Madison Square Garden. And this bike is painted with a keyboard on the tank. It’s really, really a special, special item,” Gooding said. The bike is expected to bring $10,000 to $15,000.
Joel, now into his 70s, said he cannot ride as much as he once did, and the diagnosis has made getting behind the wheel dicey, so he decided to hand the bikes to someone else. “I ended up having over a hundred motorcycles, and the truth is you can only ride one at a time,” Joel said. He has described himself as never a collector but a rider, one who loved the anonymity and loved tinkering with the customizing and the modifications. “I don’t want to die like a bug on a windshield,” he said.
Joel, a Grammy winner whose signature songs include “Piano Man” and “Uptown Girl,” has performed for more than five decades.
