13 Rock Stars Who Disappeared
From David Bowie to D'arcy Wretzky, a guide to musicians who have left the spotlight behind
Billy Joel
At first glance, Billy Joel might seem like an odd choice for this list. After all, the man just did a long podcast interview with Alec Baldwin, and he's a regular on the Hamptons social scene. He's also done Q&A sessions with college students, and last fall he even performed at New York's Beacon Theater for Sting's 60th birthday show. These are not the moves of a rock recluse. But consider the fact that Joel's last album of original material, River of Dreams, came out over 19 years ago. He hasn't played a single real concert since 2010, and he has no known plans to return to the road in the foreseeable future.
Barrett Scale: 0.5. Cancelling a memoir at the last minute, going two decades without a new album and getting off the road are classic signs of recluse-dom – but Joel is just too out there in public to say he's truly disappeared.
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