Billy Joel’s band before he went solo was Attila. Formed in 1969, Attila was a short-lived duo consisting of Joel on vocals, keyboards and bass lines played through the keyboard, and drummer Jon Small.
The pair created Attila after leaving The Hassles, the Long Island psychedelic-rock band Joel had joined in 1967. Their unusual organ-and-drums setup drew comparisons with The Doors, particularly Ray Manzarek’s keyboard-bass approach. Attila released only one album, the self-titled Attila, in July 1970, but it did not chart and received little commercial attention.
The most common mix-up is The Hassles, because that was Joel’s first notable band and the group that gave him his earliest recording credits. Attila came later and was his final major band project before his solo career took shape. The duo broke up in 1970, after which Joel pursued solo work and eventually released Cold Spring Harbor in 1971.