Billy Joel scores unexpected British hit

    Billy Joel has himself a new pop hit on the British charts, a success that was completely unplanned.
    “She’s Always a Woman,” a Top 20 hit in America for Joel in 1978, debuted at No. 29 in England this week, thanks to a new ad campaign from upscale British retailer John Lewis featuring a new version of the song sung by Fyfe Dangerfield of The Guillemots.
    “While I did have trepidations about allowing one of my songs to be used in an ad campaign, the broadcasting of ‘She’s Always A Woman’ has resulted in an entirely new interest in ‘The Stranger’ album,” Joel said yesterday. “I had no idea that a 33-year old song would hit the charts again in a country where it was never even released as a single to begin with.”
    Interest in the song has also spurred sales of Joel’s greatest-hits compilation, as well as “The Stranger.” Due to the massive response to the ad, which has already racked up a half million views on YouTube in the past week, Dangerfield’s version of “She’s Always a Woman” is being rush released on iTunes today and serviced to radio stations there.
     “I suppose this is a lucky example of unintended consequences,” said Joel.

PHOTO: Billy Joel by Associated Press.