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Originally Posted by maestroxl
Kudos for talking up Liberty DeVito. I've seen a few Billy Joel concerts and have most of the albums and have always been impressed with him. A friend in high school from Brooklyn studied with him privately and had great things to say about him.
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Everything I've heard and read Liberty truly was the fire and thunder who drove Billy to be better.
The whole band was great, it wasn't just a backup band from Turnstiles to maybe the Bridge, it was a true band that just had Billy as the front man.
David Brown, Richie Cannatta and his replacement Mark Rivera, Russell Javors, Doug Stegmeyer and Liberty..... they all contributed so much and yet have been so underrated for all these years.
I think it is obvious in that until the Stranger, Billy was pretty much a second rate one hit wonder (sales wise not musically), then in came Phil Ramone, who brought in Liberty and Liberty brought in some of the other guys and BOOM.... Billy took off like a sonnabitch.... I'll alwyas argue it was his band not just his music. And Liberty was a HUGE part of it all.
Just hope Billy gave Liberty the true respect he deserved.....