It’s been an exciting year to be a Billy Joel fan.
The release of new music after almost two decades was a pleasant surprise for the "Piano Man's" followers, and his family has been a witness to the renaissance.
Joel is married to Alexis Roderick, whom he met in 2009. They made things official at a surprise wedding on the Fourth of July in 2015. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo officiated the wedding, the singer’s spokeswoman Claire Mercuri told The Associated Press at the time.
Curious to learn more about Joel’s other half? Read on.
Alexis Roderick is Billy Joel's fourth wife
Before he tied the knot with Roderick in 2015, Joel was married three other times.
Joel's first marriage, to Elizabeth Weber, played out in the '70s and '80s. He was married to model Christie Brinkley from 1985 to 1994, then to celebrity chef Katie Lee from 2004 to 2009. According to a 2014 story about him in The New Yorker, he "refers to his former wives as Ex 1, Ex 2, and Ex 3."
Joel and Roderick first met in 2009 at a restaurant, per The New Yorker, and exchanged numbers. After Joel finished eating with his friends, he called Roderick, who was still in the restaurant, and asked her to drive him home.
When the singer asked Roderick if she wanted to hear him play some music, she said no but he proceeded to play a song.
“It was like he couldn’t not be ‘Billy Joel’ at that moment,” she told the publication.
A few months later, they said they began officially dating.
Like Joel, she's from Long Island
The New Yorker profile indicated Roderick lived in the town of Northport, Long Island, when she met Joel.
Joel grew up in the town of Hicksville, Long Island, and was still living in Long Island when he and Roderick met, per The New Yorker.
The couple have two children together
Joel is a girl dad! When he met Roderick, the singer was already a father to Alexa Ray Joel, his daughter with Brinkley.
In April 2015, Roderick and Joel announced that they were expecting their first child together. A baby girl named Della Rose was born in August of that year.
While talking with The Belfast Telegraph in 2017, Joel described his toddler daughter as "a hoot."
"She’s a funny kid. She loves to laugh. I like to make her laugh," he said.
The couple welcomed their second child, a daughter named Remy Anne, in October 2017. They kept Roderick's pregnancy private and announced that they were expecting their second child shortly before she arrived.
When Joel attended the 2024 Grammy Awards in February, where he performed his new single, “Turn the Lights Back On,” he was joined on the red carpet by Roderick and their two young daughters.
Alexis Roderick previously worked as a risk manager at Morgan Stanley
The New Yorker wrote that Roderick used to work as a risk manager at Morgan Stanley. Per the publication, Joel convinced her to move on from her work on Wall Street.
She's of Irish ancestry
During the interview with The Belfast Telegraph, Roderick revealed that she has Irish ancestors in her family tree.
"I have Irish in me," she said in the article. "It is my grandmother’s father who is Irish. My mom’s maiden name is Bridges."
CORRECTION (July 5, 2024, 11:51 a.m.): An earlier version of this article misstated the year a New Yorker profile on Billy Joel was published. It was published in 2014, not 2009.
