Billy Joel lost 1971 interview becomes AI-recreated documentary

A new 20-minute documentary titled ‘1971: Billy Joel’s Lost Interview’ is set to premiere at the Long Island Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame’s Music Documentary Film Festival on September 25. The film centers on a December 1971 radio interview conducted by student Ed Mann for college station WCWP, recorded when Joel was 22 and had just released his debut album, ‘Cold Spring Harbor.’

Because only the original audio from the quarter-inch reel-to-reel master tape survived, director Adam Ripp utilized artificial intelligence to visually recreate Joel, his manager Irwin Mazur, and Mann. The documentary aims to provide a visual connection to this early moment in music history, capturing Joel’s perspectives before his rise to global superstardom. During the interview, a young Joel expressed skepticism toward performing at Madison Square Garden, describing the venue as ‘kind of a ripoff’ due to its scale and focus on maximizing capacity.

The premiere will include a Q&A session featuring Mann, Ripp, and Mazur.