Alexa Ray Joel Talks Dad Billy Joel’s Touring Future Amid Brain Disorder and Finding Her Own Path in Music

As a little girl, Alexa Ray Joel would slip into costumes handed over by supermodel mom Christie Brinkley, then prance around performing Disney musicals like Aladdin and The Little Mermaid. Her co-star in these whimsical home productions? Billy Joel.

“We were three theater music nerds putting on musicals around the house,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I would play the characters, and Dad would accompany me. Ever since I was born, it was music, music, music. He would also sing to me while I sat on the piano.”

Now, as Billy continues taking time off while fighting a brain disorder, Alexa Ray will be the one serenading him at Thursday’s tribute event The Music of Billy Joel. The fundraiser, organized by promoter Michael Dorf, will see her take the stage at New York’s Carnegie Hall to perform tracks from Billy’s decades-long discography alongside Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas,…