''An Innocent Man'' is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...

, released on August 8, 1983. The

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

is a tribute to the American popular music of Joel's adolescent years with Joel paying homage to a number of different and popular American musical styles from the late 1950s and early 1960s, most notably

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

and

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

. The album cover artwork was taken on the front steps of 142 Mercer Street, just north of the intersection of

Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (automobile), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City, US * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or tra ...

and Prince Street in the

SoHo SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, New York City.

Background

In an interview about the making of the album, Joel talks about the fact that at the time that he was recording ''An Innocent Man'', he was newly divorced from his first wife, Elizabeth Weber, and was single for the first time since achieving rock star status. He had the opportunity to date supermodels such as

Elle Macpherson Eleanor Nancy Macpherson ( ; ; born ) is an Australian model, businesswoman, television host, and actress. She is known for her record five cover appearances for the ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'' beginning in the 1980s, leading to her ...

and

Christie Brinkley Christie Lee Brinkley (née Hudson; born February 2, 1954) is an American model. Brinkley appeared on an unprecedented three consecutive covers of ''Sports Illustrated'' Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, Swimsuit Issues in 1979, 1980, and 1981 ...

, and because of these experiences, he said, "I kind of felt like a teenager all over again." Joel started writing songs in the same styles as pop songs that he remembered from his teenage years, citing pop music from the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "early R&B songs and The Four Seasons, and the

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

music,

." According to Joel, the various songs were not meant to be autobiographical, and instead center around various made-up characters.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
Joel explained, "When you're gonna write ongs for a new album you write what you're feeling. And I didn't fight it. The material was coming so easily and so quickly, and I was having so much fun doing it. I was kind of reliving my youth. ... I think within 6 weeks I had written most of the material on the album." Joel also said that he was pleasantly surprised to have hit records in the 1980s with retro songs like the mostly

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

doo wop song "

The Longest Time "The Longest Time" is a doo-wop song by Billy Joel, released in 1984 as the fourth single from the 1983 album '' An Innocent Man''. Following the theme of the album in paying tribute to Joel's musical influences, the song is presented in the styl ...

". The song "Easy Money", which was made as a tribute to early R&B, was initially written for the 1983 film of the same name starring

Rodney Dangerfield Jack Roy (born Jacob Cohen; November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004), better known by the stage name Rodney Dangerfield, was an American stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He was known for his self-deprecating one-liner humor, ...

and was the song that "kicked off" the creation of ''An Innocent Man'', according to Joel. Dangerfield later made a cameo appearance at the end of the music video for the song "

Tell Her About It "Tell Her About It" is a song written and performed by Billy Joel from his album '' An Innocent Man'' (1983), released as the album's first single in July 1983. In the song, the singer exhorts a young man to tell the woman he loves how he feels ab ...

", as an exchange for Joel's song in support of Dangerfield's movie. The song "Christie Lee" describes a narrative about a saxophone player who has his heart broken by a woman he falls in love with, whom he later realizes is only interested in him for his saxophone skills.

Chart performance

The album featured three ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Top 10 hit singles: "

" (No. 1), "

Uptown Girl "Uptown Girl" is a song written and performed by American musician Billy Joel from his ninth studio album, '' An Innocent Man'' (1983), released in September 1983 as the album's second single. The lyrics describe a working-class "downtown man" ...

" (No. 3) and " An Innocent Man" (No. 10). Four other singles were released from the album: "

" (No. 14), " Leave a Tender Moment Alone" (No. 27), "

Keeping the Faith ''Keeping the Faith'' is a 2000 American romantic comedy film written by Stuart Blumberg, and starring Ben Stiller, Edward Norton (in his directorial debut), Jenna Elfman, Eli Wallach, and Anne Bancroft. This film was released by Touchstone ...

" (No. 18) and " This Night" (US

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of "Leave a Tender Moment Alone"). "Tell Her About It" and "Uptown Girl" garnered international success—"Uptown Girl" reached No. 1 in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. ''An Innocent Man'' remained on the US Pop album chart for 111 weeks, becoming Joel's longest charting studio album behind ''The Stranger''. For over a year, the album remained on the charts in the UK, Japan and Australia.

Critical reception

Like his three previous efforts, Joel's ''An Innocent Man'' received a nomination for the 26th Grammy Award for Album of the Year, although the award went to

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

's '' Thriller''. The album was also nominated for a

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

for

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a male in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The award wen ...

for "Uptown Girl", but again was beaten by ''Thriller''.

Track listing

All songs by Billy Joel, except for the chorus for "This Night", which is credited on the sleeve to Joel and L. v. Beethoven. The track listing on the LP is slightly different from that on the cassette and original CD pressings, with the latter swapping the places of "The Longest Time" and "Uptown Girl". However, on the actual cassette shell and disc label, the songs are listed (and play) in the correct order as printed on the LP.

Personnel

– lead and backing vocals, Baldwin SF-10 acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano,

Hammond B-3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created from rotat ...

Liberty DeVitto Liberatori "Liberty" DeVitto (born August 8, 1950) is an American rock drummer. He is best known for his work as a drummer for singer-songwriter Billy Joel's recording and touring band. He has been a session drummer on recordings of other artists ...

– drums *

Doug Stegmeyer Douglas Alan Stegmeyer (December 23, 1951 – August 25, 1995) was an American musician who was best known as a bassist and back-up vocalist for Billy Joel. Stegmeyer also performed as bassist for Debbie Gibson and Hall & Oates. Life and car ...

– bass guitar * David Brown – electric and acoustic lead guitars *

Russell Javors Russell Javors (born June 13, 1952) is an American rock guitarist. He is best known as a rhythm guitarist for Billy Joel from 1976 to 1989. Career At age 15, Javors was performing songs with his childhood friend Liberty DeVitto. He met Doug Stegm ...

– electric and acoustic rhythm guitars *

Mark Rivera Mark Rivera (born May 24, 1953) is an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, singer, musical director, and corporate entertainment provider who is mostly known for his work with Billy Joel. In addition to playing soprano, alto, tenor, a ...

– backing vocals,

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

, percussion;

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

on "Keeping the Faith", "This Night" and "Christie Lee" Additional personnel *

Tom Bahler Thomas Lee Bahler (also spelled Bähler; ; born June 1, 1943) is an American singer, composer, songwriter, arranger, producer and author. Bahler is most known for his song "She's Out of My Life", which was recorded by Michael Jackson; the song was ...

– backing vocals *

Rory Dodd Rory Dodd (born Port Dover, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian rock vocalist who has performed many songs written by Jim Steinman. He is probably best known for singing as the duet voice (the "Turn around, bright eyes" lyrics) on Bonnie Tyler's versi ...

– backing vocals * Frank Floyd – backing vocals * Lani Groves – backing vocals * Ullanda McCullough – backing vocals * Ron Taylor – backing vocals * Terry Textor – backing vocals *

Eric Troyer Eric Lee Troyer (born 10 April 1949) is an American keyboardist, singer, songwriter, and occasional guitarist. Troyer was a founding member of ELO Part II, having been recruited by band leader Bev Bevan in 1988. He wrote a substantial quantity ...

– backing vocals * Mike Alexander – backing vocals *

Eric Gale Eric Gale (September 20, 1938 – May 25, 1994) was an American jazz and jazz fusion guitarist. Biography Eric Gale was born in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. His grandfather was English, and Gale had relatives in Venezuela and Bar ...

– electric guitar on "Easy Money" *

Richard Tee Richard Edward Tee (born Richard Edward Ten Ryk; November 24, 1943 – July 21, 1993) was an American jazz fusion pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger, who had several hundred studio credits and played on such notable hits as " I'll B ...

– acoustic piano on "Tell Her About It" *

Leon Pendarvis Leroy Leon Pendarvis (born 1945) is an American session musician. He plays keyboards and is a background vocalist. He is also an occasional guitarist. Early life The son of a first-grade primary school teacher, Pendarvis grew up in South Carolin ...

– Hammond B-3 organ on "Easy Money" *

Ralph MacDonald Ralph Anthony MacDonald (March 15, 1944 – December 18, 2011) was an American percussionist, steelpan virtuoso, songwriter, musical arranger, and record producer. His compositions include " Where Is the Love", a Grammy Award winner for the due ...

– percussion on "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" and "Careless Talk" *

Toots Thielemans Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known professionally as Toots Thielemans (), was a Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for playing the chromatic harmonica, as well as his guitar and wh ...

–

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

on "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" * "String Fever" – strings *

Ronnie Cuber Ronald Edward Cuber (December 25, 1941 – October 7, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. He also played in Latin, pop, rock, and blues sessions. In addition to his primary instrument, baritone sax, he played tenor sax, soprano sax, clarinet, ...

–

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

on "Easy Money", "Careless Talk", "Tell Her About It" and "Keeping the Faith" *

Jon Faddis Jon Faddis (born July 24, 1953) is an American jazz trumpet player, conductor, composer, and educator, renowned for both his playing and for his expertise in the field of music education. Upon his first appearance on the scene, he became known ...

– trumpet on "Easy Money" *

David Sanborn David William Sanborn (July 30, 1945 – May 12, 2024) was an American alto saxophonist. He worked in many musical genres; his solo recordings typically blended jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He began playing the saxophone at the age o ...

– alto saxophone on "Easy Money" * Joe Shepley – trumpet on "Easy Money", "Careless Talk", "Tell Her About It" and "Keeping the Faith" *

Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as a performer and composer, received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in ...

– tenor saxophone on "Careless Talk", "Tell Her About It" and "Keeping the Faith" * John Gatchell – trumpet on "Careless Talk", "Tell Her About It" and "Keeping the Faith"

Production

* Producer – Phil Ramone * Engineers – Jim Boyer and

Bradshaw Leigh Brad Leigh is an American audio engineer, known for having recorded and mixed many recordings including Billy Joel's '' River of Dreams'', Tracy Chapman's '' Matters of the Heart'' as well as Julian Lennon's ''Valotte'' and '' Secret Value of Da ...

* Assistant Engineers – Mike Allaire and Scott James * Production Coordinator – Laura Loncteaux * Mastered by

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' '' Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Early life ...

* Horn and String arrangements – David Matthews * Background vocal arrangements – Tom Bahler * Musical Advisor – Billy Zampino * Photography – Gilles Larrain * Cover Design – Christopher Austopchuk and Mark Larson ;Studios * Recorded at Chelsea Sound and A & R Recording, Inc., New York, NY. * Mixed at A & R Recording, Inc., New York, NY. * Mastered at Sterling Sound, New York, NY.

Accolades

Grammy Awards

, - , width="35" align="center" rowspan="2",

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, , ''An Innocent Man'' , , Album of the Year , , , - , "Uptown Girl" , , , Best Pop Vocal Performance – Male , ,

American Music Awards

, - , style="width:35px; text-align:center;" rowspan="2",

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

, , Billy Joel (performer) , , Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, , , - , "Tell Her About It" , , Favorite Pop/Rock Video , , , -

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Innocent Man, An Billy Joel albums 1983 albums Albums produced by Phil Ramone Columbia Records albums 1980s concept albums Doo-wop albums Soul albums by American artists