How my version of 'Captain Jack' made Billy Joel a star

I spoke with Philadelphia Magazine's Victor Fiorillo two months ago about Billy Joel and me. His story is now online:

Billy Joel has released just one studio album in the past 20 years — a 2001 recording of his classical compositions that you’ve likely never heard. Yet when he takes the stage in Philadelphia on August 13th, he’ll do so at Citizens Bank Park in front of some 40,000 fans and play through his repertoire of modern American classics. He’s a true star, and one with a fiercely loyal following. But it wasn’t always that way.

Back in 1971, Joel was a no-name 22-year-old from Long Island. In November of that year, he released his first album, Cold Spring Harbor, which got virtually no attention or airplay.

Then one day in 1972, local music producer Dennis Wilen [photo], who had launched a live WMMR concert series from Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound Studios, got wind of Joel during a visit to New York and invited him to do a show.

Continued @ PhillyMag.com....