Jon Small, an early band mate of Billy Joel whose friendship temporarily ended after Joel fell in love with Small’s wife, has died.
Billy Joel revealed Small’s death with a small tribute on social media; Small’s age and cause of death was not known at press time.
Joel and Small were band mates in the Hassles in the Sixties and then formed the hard rock duo Attila; after the latter released their debut album in 1970 — and while Joel was living with Small and his wife Elizabeth Weber — the future Piano Man fell in love with Weber, a situation examined at length in the recent documentary And So It Goes
“Elizabeth was very important to me, but I think I was not the guy she hoped I would be,” Small said in the documentary. “I kept seeing that Billy was not the same guy. Something was the matter. And Billy one day came up to me, became a little honest, and said to me, ‘I’m in love with your wife.’ So it was a very devastating thing for me, because these were basically my two best friends.”
“I felt very, very guilty about it. They had a child. I felt like a homewrecker,” Joel said. “I was just in love with a woman, and I got punched in the nose, which I deserved. Jon was very upset. I was very upset.”
The affair resulted in Attila’s breakup, the (temporary) end of his best friendship, and Joel getting evicted from Small’s house.
Small added in the documentary, “He never really said anything to me, the only practical answer I can give as to why Billy took it so hard was because he loved me that much and that it killed him to hurt me that much. Eventually I forgave him.”
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Joel and Weber eventually reunited, and the pair wedded. The marriage lasted from 1973 to 1982.
Small and Joel would also eventually reconcile, with Small working on the Piano Man’s concert films like Live From Long Island and Live at Shea Stadium, as well as directing the “Baby Grand” video. Small also directed music videos for Reba McEntire, Enrique Iglesias, and Brooks & Dunn.
