Billy Joel, Tony Bennett foundations to be honored in NYC next week

Celebrities will gather this month to celebrate the arts foundations of two longtime collaborators, Billy Joel and Tony Bennett.

The private event, which could include an appearance by the Piano Man, will take place at Capitale in Manhattan on Nov. 17.

Bennett’s foundation, Exploring the Arts, is the official host of the event, which will also shine a spotlight on the Joel Foundation, launched by Joel and his wife, Alexis Roderick Joel, to support music education. CBS News anchor Gayle King will host the evening, which includes musical performances from Joel’s eldest daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, and Natalie Merchant. Alec Baldwin is set to be a guest speaker.

Joel and Bennett are known for their many duets of Joel’s 1976 anthem, “New York State of Mind.” They teamed up for a version on Bennett’s Grammy-nominated 2001 album, “Playin’ with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues,” then sang it at the following year’s Grammy Awards. Bennett showed up to sing the track at Joel’s two concerts closing out Shea Stadium in 2008 and Joel returned the favor by appearing on the 2016 NBC special “Tony Bennett Celebrates 90: The Best Is Yet to Come.” When they performed the song at Joel’s Madison Square Garden residency in July of that year, Joel also sang “Happy Birthday to You” for his friend.

Bennett, who died in 2023, would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year. Roderick Joel, attending a 2019 fundraiser for the two singers' foundations, described the famed jazz vocalist as a tireless support of various philanthropic causes. "If there was a charity and he could lend his name and his face, he would 100% be there,” she told Yahoo! News. “So it's important to us to be here for him tonight.”

A representative for the event said Joel himself is expected to attend, although a spokesperson for Joel did not confirm. Despite a diagnosis of normal pressure hydrocephalus, a brain disorder that has kept him from touring since early 2025, Joel has remained fairly active and in the public eye. He has since appeared on a number of podcasts and radio shows. In January, he surprised a Joel tribute band, Turnstiles, by sitting in with them during a show in what’s now his home base of Florida.

Joel also announced on Monday he will appear at Florida Atlantic University on Dec. 14 for an event titled “Billy Joel: An Evening of Questions & Answers … And a Little Music.” Tickets will be offered to FAU students beginning Nov. 12.