The “Piano Man” singer, 77, was diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus

NEED TO KNOW

• Billy Joel told his fans not to worry about him after he was diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus, a brain disorder, which he revealed last year
• The singer had a shunt surgically implanted to improve his balance, memory and daily functioning
• Joel says doctors advised him to pause performing while he focuses on recovery, but he told his followers that his illness “sounds a lot worse than it actually is”

Billy Joel doesn’t want his fans worrying about him as he continues to deal with a brain disorder. 

On Tuesday, Sept. 29, the “Piano Man” singer, 77, gave an update on his health after being diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) last year.

NPH is a condition where excess cerebrospinal fluid builds up inside the skull and presses on the brain, according to the Cleveland Clinic. It often affects people over 65 and treatment typically involves surgery to implant a shunt to drain excess fluid.

“I know people are worried about me because they read that I have a brain disorder, which sounds a lot worse than it actually is,” he said on SiriusXM‘s The Billy Joel Channel.

“I’m okay,” he insisted. “My balance isn’t that good. I lost a little bit of my hearing, but that may have to do with my age, too, and the rock-and-roll life and the loud volume probably didn’t help. But I’m fine. I want people to not have to worry about me. I’m okay.”

In order to treat the condition, Joel began physical therapy before doctors recommended he undergo a shunt procedure.

“I said, ‘Well, what does that entail?’ ‘Well, we drill a hole through your skull and we stick a shunt inside your brain.’ I said, ‘Nah, I think I’ll pass on that.’ I didn’t want to do that, but then I read up on it and I realized it can help improve your balance and can help your memory. You know, I don’t want to lose my marbles,” he recalled on the Sept. 16 show. “It’s hard to tell what’s age and what’s a condition, so I agreed to do the shunt. I had a surgery and they implanted a shunt in my brain — and it actually improved things.”

The “Vienna” singer noticed improvements to his memory, balance and ability to function, but he said that he wasn’t able to work the same way.

“The doctors told me this: because of my job, which is playing rock and roll music very loud, that it was giving me something like a concussion every time I did a show. It was causing damage to my brain nerves and I could be losing more brain cells the more shows I did and I realized that means I shouldn’t be doing this right now. I got to improve,” he said at the time. “I’m doing whatever it is they tell me to do because I don’t want to lose it, you know?”

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“I’m not going anywhere. I’m here. I’m still here,” he added. 

Joel first revealed his condition in May 2025, when he canceled scheduled concerts. At the time, he said that NPH was made worse by performances, leading to problems with hearing, vision and balance.

Speaking with PEOPLE in a July 2025 interview, the singer opened up about his health and said he was simply rolling with the punches.

“What I have is something very few people know about, including me, no matter how much you try to research it. I’m doing my best to work with it and to recover from it,” he said. “It was scary, but I’m okay. I just wanted to let people know, don’t worry about me being deathly ill or anything.”

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