Crystal Taliefero is now in her fourth decade backing up Billy Joel.
The Indiana native, who had previously worked with John Mellencamp, joined the music legend in 1989. She made her debut playing percussion when he recorded "We Didn’t Start the Fire." (The band nailed the song in just two takes!)
She told Rolling Stone that since then, she's performed on "Piano Man" more than 1,000 times. In fact, only sax man Mark Rivera has been with Billy longer than Crystal. Her resume also includes live shows with The Bee Gees, Bob Seger, Joe Cocker, Enrique Iglesias and Bruce Springsteen -- where she not only played guitar, but she also sang and filled in on sax for Clarence Clemons.
With Billy Joel's live shows are currently on hold, Taliefero says, "It doesn’t get any better... He’s a rarity. He does things that 90 percent of other people just don’t do... He’s concerned about us. During this pandemic, he’s paid our salaries."