Billy Joel revealed he was on the mend after undergoing brain surgery following his diagnosis with a rare condition last year.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m here. I’m still here,” the 77-year-old rocker shared on Wednesday’s segment of SiriusXM’s The Billy Joel Channel.
The “Piano Man” crooner recalled his 2025 diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus — a condition in which cerebrospinal fluid builds up inside the skull and presses on the brain, per the Cleveland Clinic.
NPH is often treatable, involving surgery to implant a shunt to drain excess fluid from the inside of the skull, per the medical clinic.
“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.”
The “Vienna” singer shared that he went to a neurologist, who recommended that he go under the knife.
“I said, ‘Well, what does that entail?’” he recalled, admitting that he initially shut down the recommendation for surgery.
“I didn’t want to do that,” Joel stated. “But then I read up on it, and I realized it can help improve your balance and can help your memory.”
“You know, I don’t want to lose my marbles. It’s hard to tell what’s age and what’s a condition, so I agreed to do the shunt, and I had surgery, and they implanted a shunt in my brain, and it actually improved things.”
The Grammy winner noticed an improvement in his memory, balance and overall “ability to function.”
Additionally, doctors urged Joel to stop performing after discovering he was suffering a “concussion” every time he did a show following his brain surgery
“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,” the “Uptown Girl” singer said.
“It was causing damage to my brain nerves, and I could be losing more brain cells the more shows I did,” he continued. “I realized that means I shouldn’t be doing this right now. I got to improve.”
Joel explained he was going to physical therapy and closely following his doctors’ advice.
“I’m doing whatever it is they tell me to do because I don’t want to lose it, you know?” he said.
Joel announced his diagnosis in May 2025 when he canceled his tour performances.
At the time, he officially pulled the plug on the remainder of the concerts after postponing several shows when he suffered a fall at his Mohegan Sun Casino performance in Montville, Connecticut, in March.
The “New York State of Mind” singer told fans he needed to prioritize his health and was “expected to make a full recovery.”
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