Listening to Alexa Ray Joel's music, it's not difficult to imagine the young singer, songwriter, and pianist had parents who nurtured her love of music and encouraged her to follow her muse. You might not guess that one of them was pop star Billy Joel, given the jazz-influenced textures and deeply personal yet playfully insouciant lyrical perspective of her songs. Alexa Ray Joel was born to Joel and his wife Christie Brinkley on January 1, 1986; she's said that her love of music began with her father singing nursery rhymes to her at his piano, and she began writing simple tunes as a youngster. At age 11, Alexa began taking classical piano lessons, which she continued for five years, aided in part by the perfect pitch she inherited from her dad. At 17, Alexa attended a five-week workshop for budding musicians at the Berklee College of Music, which she cites with encouraging her to explore her gifts as a singer and performer.
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