Liberty, Russell, and Ritchie are now playing as Lords of the 52nd Street.

Well it's none of our business

@@TheSkirvo - Sounds like you're not really a fan...

@@bherber excuse me yes i am

@@TheSkirvo - Get real douche... Billy should have let Liberty know exactly why he was firing him. That's why you had the lawsuit.. It was inevitable. Liberty contributed massively to all the albums over the years, and then coldly fired in 2006 without even a word.

i mean, he has a point, like it's not our place to be all up billy's business. you can still be fan without knowing every single small thing you could know about the artist. you can still love billy without knowing his personal business. what billy makes music, and i think we all know that he doesn't want drama on his personal life. i understand he is very much so is famous, but i bet he doesn't like people only feeding into him js bc of drama, cuz it doesn't feel good, that's for sure. i am not saying in any way whatsoever that you aren't a real fan of billy, just please check your privilege, and don't say 'oh, you aren't a real fan bc you said that it's not our place for billy to just open himself up and spill everything there ever is to know about Doug and liberty (and ofc richie, Russell, david, dave lebolt, George simms, and many more)' bc its just not reasonable or even appropriate for the situation at hand. billy even said in a river of dreams interview that he didn't want to tear himself open and let the world see him and everything about him. i do respect both of your opinions, however i feel like @bherber, you are not being very reasonable. i do respect you, however, like i said, you don't need to be in his business to be a fan of billy joel. I'm very sorry if this sounded disrespectful l.

He screwed Doug over big.

Billy is a jerk. Was with me and my band until he died... I think he said "with me and my band" to cover both of those, as to be able to say he wasn't lying.. if someone questioned him about it, anyway. Stegmeyer was also the best bass player to ever work with Joel, and he couldn't appreciate that. I"m so sick of Billy Joel it's not funny. Been a fan since like age 4 and I'm 28 now.. enough. Enough stories about him snubbing people after cutting them off in line at a deli, and stuff like that. the guy is a jerk.

It's also egotistical of him to say that Doug used his (Billy's) left hand [on the piano] to form his bass lines... no way. Listen to the fills he does in Scenes From an Italian Restaurant. Billy did not write those, Doug did. Are they the greatest bass fills ever? No, not really.. but they're great. And they were not just following Billy's left hand. Billy is pretty lazy with his left hand on the piano actually.

Yep, it's too bad Billy doesn't have the guts, nor will he ever be pressed to admit why he fired Doug & Liberty. At least Liberty fought back & sued him for a settlement. The only unfortunate thing is that we will never learn the details now since there was a non-disclosure agreement signed so Liberty can't speak about it. Supposedly Billy did give Liberty some reasons privately about why he did what he did, but Lib can't tell anyone.

I wouldn't judge him too harshly. After getting vamboozled out of all those millions by his ex- brother in-law, he probably got trust issues so loyalty became a virtue he could no longer maintain. It's Ego or you-go but we both can't remain.

+hubbell627 I don't think its all that simple. He was fired in 1988 and killed himself in 1995, 8 years later. In between that time he did a lot of other work with other musicians and stars. I would guess he suffered from depression too.

He did suffer from depression, but it is well known that being fired from the band is what caused his pain to begin with, and then 8 years later he couldn't take it anymore.

@@natfingerboard Yes that is true. Had it not been for the depression though I feel he could definitely have moved on and still been around today, its said he did try hard. Russell Javors was let go the same way and at the same time too, he's still going on, though he probably did his own thing more so than being a hired musician.

When Doug was inducted into the Long Island Hall of Fame, his mother had very warm and positive things to say about Billy Joel. I was there, but I think there is footage is on KZfaq. That makes me think that it wasn’t quite as simple as you’re making it sound.

Depression was only a symptom. The cause for the depression was being fired from BJ's band.

He's almost been airbrushed from Billys history. No links to him at all. He was an awesome guitarist, particularly on the Songs from the Attic live album.

IKR?? And Russell too! Wow!

Sometimes you have to move on...be grateful you got lucky

Liberty was let go because Billy and Danny Korchmar wanted to go in a different direction for the River of Dreams album. Liberty didn't agree with that direction. In an interview I saw Liberty a few years later he sad " I now realize It says Billy Joel on the Album cover not Liberty Devitto."

Joel didn’t invite Liberty on his 2006 tour bc they had legal problems. So at this point Mark is the only old member that is still with Billy.

Hmm, there may have been a personal issue too. It was hinted that he played a role in the demise of Billy's first marriage.

Correct 100%, why does everyone else make it sound worse than it is? They were all going through changes in their lives including Billy. He decided to move on, does he have to hold everyone’s hand? There’s a reason band members are called Hired Guns.

Chris, I actually think Mark is great. Not cocky at all. That said I am mad at Billy for ditching Doug & Liberty.

@William W. Campbell-Shepherd IX - Nope, Doug was dumped right after the Russian tour in 1987. He along with Russell Javors got no word from Billy. They just weren't invited back for the Storm Front tour in 1989. Billy owed those guys at least a face-to-face meeting. Then the same thing happened with Liberty where he just wasn't invited back in 2006. If Billy's gonna let someone go, he owes them a face-to-face meeting to let them know and give them a reason. If he can't do that, then he's got no balls.

almost unbearable to watch... great sax player... but the ego overwhelms the stage....

i mostly agree, however i do think he should have told them that he was going in a different direction, rather than letting them find out on their own. i think that's the part they were really upset at, not actually being fired.

@Peter Jennings as the song says you may be right lol,.. how you put it is a bit crude but you may be right. However it was the way it was done, that's why people are trashing Joel. Also though was it was Billy Joel's band, business and touring wise, it was always made to feel like it was a "package", ie Joel and all the guys equally, some of them got commissions on the songs. He stopped that after all the shit with his manager. If he'd let them know in advance then it might have been easier to deal with. Still hard, but that extra consideration would have helped in the long run. Russell Javors the Guitarist handled it I think, but Doug Stegmeyer, the bass player, found it much much harder. Plus he might have had other issues too.

Peter - Loyalty is a 2-way street. A lot of the Billy Joel classic hits are due to these guys. Yeah, if you have the songwriting credits, you can dump whoever easily like a coward, but I'll go toe to toe with you any day on Billy knowledge & his band. Btw, is Peter Jennings a fake name? I'm just thinking the ABC reporter so seems fake.

Not true, they were fantastic musicians on their time, they had probably success in another scenario

As others said, it's the way he released them, without even a phone call, letting them discover the whole thing listening to the radio!!! They had also been friends, not just colleagues. This, to me, it's an awful behaviour! In Billy Joel: the definitive biography, in the chapter dedicated to Doug, it's said the poor guy faced depression (although worsened by drinking). If you know a band member is depressed, I'd assume you'd try to find a gentle way to tell him he won't be part of your next record. And, on a side note... Doug was dismissed for a bassist who lasted just one tour and 2 records and I can't see what improvement he gave to the songs he was involved in.

Don’t jump to conclusions without all the facts. Billy declined to work with the Beatles Producer because he wanted to keep his band members. If he was shellfish, he could have dumped them then! They are hired musicians!

Why does Billy have to Work with the same musician his whole career ? No musician does that. Billy felt the need to work with other musicians because it would make the older material which he'd been playing for over 10 15 years have a newer fresher sound . Every artist wants to work with different musicians through their whole career . It's got nothing to do with selfishness. You would understand that if you were a musician