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Billy Joel admitted that he stopped writing music because he didn't want to tarnish his legacy.
The "Piano Man" opened up about the decision to YouTube personality Rick Beato.
"When I got to the end of writing River of Dreams, I felt like I was done," the legendary musician said of his 1993 album. "I was married. I had a child. I didn't want to lock myself in a cave and devote myself like a monk to writing anymore. I had done it 12 times and I thought, 'You know what? The Beatles had 12 albums.' And that was just enough for me."
The singer, who stopped making rock music after the aforementioned album, revealed that he did not want to be like other artists who kept putting out albums, only for them to "dilute their legacy."
"Maybe they're not as good as they used to be or they're not as motivated as they were, but it ends up trailing off," Joel mused. "I didn't want to go like that. It's not easy to do. Saying no sometimes is really hard to do."
Watch the full interview below.