Billy Joel is opening up about a frightening health battle that led to brain surgery — but the legendary rocker insists he has no plans of disappearing.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m here. I’m still here,” the 77-year-old “Piano Man” singer said Wednesday on SiriusXM’s The Billy Joel Channel.
Joel revealed that he underwent surgery after being diagnosed in 2025 with normal pressure hydrocephalus, or NPH, a condition in which excess cerebrospinal fluid builds up inside the skull and puts pressure on the brain.
The music icon said one of the first signs something was wrong was a troubling change in his balance.
“I noticed that my balance was not good,” Joel recalled. “I had this sense of being on a boat, like this rocking motion. I wasn’t steady on my feet.”
Joel eventually went to a neurologist, who recommended surgery to treat the condition.
At first, Joel wanted no part of it.
“I said, ‘Well, what does that entail?’” he recalled. “I didn’t want to do that.”
But after researching the procedure, Joel changed his mind when he learned it could potentially improve both his balance and memory.
“You know, I don’t want to lose my marbles,” he said. “It’s hard to tell what’s age and what’s a condition, so I agreed to do the shunt.”
Doctors implanted a shunt in Joel’s brain to help drain the excess fluid.
According to the singer, the procedure made a noticeable difference.
“It actually improved things,” Joel said, explaining that his memory, balance and overall ability to function all got better.
But Joel’s health scare was far from over.
Doctors later warned him that returning to his famously loud rock concerts could be putting his brain at further risk.
“The doctors told me this, because of my job, which is playing rock and roll music very loud, that it was giving me something like a concussion every time I did a show,” Joel revealed.
He said doctors feared the performances could damage nerves in his brain and potentially cause him to lose even more brain cells.
“It was causing damage to my brain nerves, and I could be losing more brain cells the more shows I did,” he said.
That warning was enough to convince Joel that he needed to put his career on hold and focus on getting better.
“I realized that means I shouldn’t be doing this right now,” he said. “I got to improve.”
Joel said he is now undergoing physical therapy and following doctors’ orders as closely as possible.
“I’m doing whatever it is they tell me to do because I don’t want to lose it, you know?” he said.
The Grammy-winning superstar first publicly revealed his NPH diagnosis in May 2025, when he announced that he was canceling the remainder of his scheduled tour dates.
The announcement came after several concerts had already been postponed following a scary fall during Joel’s March 2025 performance at Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut.
At the time, Joel told fans that he needed to make his health his top priority and said doctors expected him to make a full recovery.
Now, more than a year later, the “Uptown Girl” singer is making one thing clear — he is still fighting.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Joel said. “I’m still here.”
