{"id":803981,"date":"2026-10-16T01:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T01:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/803981\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T01:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T01:36:08","slug":"billy-joel-reveals-he-cant-drive-perform-anymore-in-health-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/803981\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Joel reveals he can\u2019t drive, perform anymore in health update"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billy Joel revealed he \u201ccan\u2019t drive\u201d or perform anymore after being diagnosed with a rare brain disorder<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not allowed to drive,\u201d the 77-year-old music icon said in a Hollywood Reporter interview<\/a> published Thursday, also noting that he has to \u201ctake a series of tests\u201d before he knows if he can perform again.<\/p>\n

Since he can\u2019t drive, Joel said he\u2019s auctioning off over 70 of his motorcycles.<\/p>\n

Billy Joel (seen here performing in Las Vegas in 2024) said that he \u201ccan\u2019t drive\u201d anymore after being diagnosed with a rare brain disorder. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Joel (pictured above performing in Tokyo in 2024) explained he\u2019s \u201cnot allowed to drive,\u201d and has to undergo \u201ca series of tests\u201d before he knows if he can perform again. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI ended up having over a hundred motorcycles, and the truth is you can only ride one at a time,\u201d the \u201cUptown Girl\u201d singer said. \u201cI\u2019m into my 70s now, and I realized I can\u2019t ride as much as I used to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to die like a bug on a windshield,\u201d he added. \u201cSo I thought I\u2019d put a lot of them on auction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Grammy Award winner noted that his normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) diagnosis \u201cmakes driving a little bit iffy,\u201d so he \u201crealized it\u2019s time for me to turn it over to somebody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love motorcycles. I love biking. I love driving. I love the anonymity of it,\u201d Joel said. \u201cAnd I love the customization of these bikes, the modifications, the messing around with things. I was not a collector. I was actually a rider. So I figured it was just time to let it go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joel (pictured here in Miami in 2012) said that he\u2019s auctioning off over 70 of his motorcycles since he can\u2019t drive. FilmMagic<\/p>\n

Joel (seen here in the Hamptons in 2002) explained that his normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) diagnosis \u201cmakes driving a little bit iffy,\u201d so he \u201crealized it\u2019s time for me to turn it over to somebody else.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n

Last year, Joel was diagnosed with NPH, a disorder that occurs when cerebrospinal fluid builds up inside the skull and presses on the brain, disrupting cognitive functioning, per the Cleveland Clinic.<\/a><\/p>\n

In the interview, Joel explained that he can\u2019t perform right now because his neurologist told him that \u201cevery time you do a show, it\u2019s like you\u2019re getting a concussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told THR the reason for that is \u201cthe volume\u201d of his concerts.<\/p>\n

\u201cRock and roll is loud, man,\u201d he said. \u201cRock and roll made me deaf already. So it\u2019s the lighting, the sound, the stress of the show, the audience, the energy of the performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joel continued, \u201cThere\u2019s a lot going on when you\u2019re onstage. And they said, \u2018Well, you really shouldn\u2019t be doing that right now.\u2019 So they have to test me further to see if I can go back and do performing again, which I would like to be able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joel\u2019s diagnosis, which he revealed last year, disrupts cognitive functioning (Joel is seen here in NYC in March). NYFIX \/ BACKGRID<\/p>\n

The singer (pictured above in NYC in March) told THR that he can\u2019t perform anymore because \u201crock and roll is loud.\u201d NYFIX \/ BACKGRID<\/p>\n

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The \u201cPiano Man\u201d singer announced his diagnosis<\/a> in May 2025 when he canceled his tour performances.<\/p>\n

At the time, he officially pulled the plug on the remainder of the concerts after postponing several shows when he\u00a0suffered a fall<\/a>\u00a0at his Mohegan Sun Casino performance in Montville, Connecticut, in March of that year.<\/p>\n

Last month, Joel revealed he underwent brain surgery<\/a> after learning that the procedure could help improve his balance and memory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to lose my marbles. It\u2019s hard to tell what\u2019s age and what\u2019s 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,\u201d he said on SiriusXM\u2019s The Billy Joel Channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot going on when you\u2019re onstage. And they said, \u2018Well, you really shouldn\u2019t be doing that right now,’\u201d Joel (seen here in St. Louis, Missouri in 2024) said. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Joel (seen above performing at Madison Square Garden in 2017) revealed last month that he underwent brain surgery to help improve his balance and memory. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Joel confirmed that he noticed an improvement in his memory, balance and overall \u201cability to function\u201d after the surgery.<\/p>\n

He also shared he was continuing to go to physical therapy and closely following his doctors\u2019 advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going anywhere,\u201d he stated. \u201cI\u2019m here. I\u2019m still here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billy Joel revealed he \u201ccan\u2019t drive\u201d or perform anymore after being diagnosed with a rare brain disorder. \u201cI\u2019m…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803982,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[9494,6491,2755,96,2281,128,80525,17952,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-803981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-billy-joel","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity-news","tag-entertainment","tag-health-and-fitness","tag-music","tag-musicians","tag-singers","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}