In which town on Long Island did Billy Joel grow up?

Billy Joel grew up in Hicksville, a town on Long Island, New York. More precisely, his family lived in the Levittown section of Hicksville after moving from New York City, and Joel spent his childhood and young-adult years there.

The Long Island setting shaped both his identity and his music. Joel attended Hicksville High School and became involved in local bands, including The Echoes, later known as The Lost Souls, and The Hassles. He began studying piano as a child and developed from a classically trained pianist into a rock and pop songwriter.

A common mix-up is answering “Levittown.” Levittown describes the suburban development or section where the Joel family lived, while Hicksville is the town used in biographies and the standard answer to this question. Billy Joel was born in the Bronx, but Hicksville is where he grew up.