Billy Joel sings new hit ‘Turn the Lights Back On’ at Grammys

Billy Joel delivered a stirring two-song performance at the 66th Grammy Awards on Sunday night.

Joel, 74, opened with his new hit, “Turn the Lights Back On,” taking his familiar seat at a piano, hammering the chords and belting out the freshly released lyrics.

Host Trevor Noah decided that Joel’s performance, which came just before the end of the show, was easily “worth the wait.”

Just when everyone though the Long Island native was done for the night, he returned to close the show after Taylor Swift won her record-setting fourth Album of the Year award. Joel ended the night with “You May Be Right,” telling everyone it was time to “turn out the light.”

“Turn the Lights Back On” is Joel’s first new pop single in 30 years. His last pop album was 1993’s “River of Dreams,” which finished with the fittingly titled “Famous Last Words.”

In a video announcing the new song’s release, his hand appears to turn a notebook page that is scrawled with faded lyrics and titled “Famous Last Words.”

Joel continued releasing music between 1993 and 2024. In 2007, he released the jazz single “All My Life,” and in 2001 he added “Fantasies & Delusions” to the catalog. However, that album was full of classical piano pieces composed by Joel and performed by Richard Hyung-Ji Koo.

Joel has won six Grammy Awards during his career and has been playing sold out shows at Madison Square Garden for more than four decades. His residency at the arena is scheduled to end on July 25.

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