Fred Schruersenjoyed a successful high-profile career as a writer at Rolling Stone, chronicling an impressive body of musicians and actors, including Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Springsteen, Jack Nicholson, Sheryl Crow, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Chris Rock. His writing has also appeared in Premiere, Entertainment Weekly, Men's Journal, GQ, the Los Angeles Times, and Columbia Journalism Review.
“If you call yourself a Joel fan, you'll be reading this.”—Newsday “The rollicking story of a Hicksville boy made good.”—Maura Johnston, Newsday “Schruers clearly realizes he has gold in his interviews with Joel, his friends, paramours, and confidants. . . . [He delivers] insights on individual songs that will surprise even the most studied Joel fan . . . [and] has given us the most complete look at Joel’s life and career to date.”—Dallas Morning News “[Billy Joel] not only lives up to its subtitle, but has the strengths of both an autobiography and biography. . . . [It] will likely end up as the most complete tome on the Bard of Long Island, with the most access to its subject.”—Houston Press “Schruers’ account of Joel’s 1970s rise is fantastic, rich in anecdotes about the origins of different songs.”—Billboard “[A] funny and revealing account of one of the most popular songwriters of our time.”—New York Daily News “Schruers uses interviews to great effect, allowing to emerge the everyman persona that resonates with Joel's fans . . . a fair, thorough assessment of Joel's celebrity.”—Publishers Weekly