An Innocent Man is the ninth album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 singer/songwriter Billy Joel

Billy Joel

William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...

, released in 1983 (see 1983 in music

1983 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1983.-January-April:*January – ZTT Records is founded.*January 8 – The UK singles chart is tabulated from this week forward by The Gallup Organization...

).

This album is Joel's tribute to the music of his childhood. He considers this a "singer's album," and pays homage to a number of different musical styles, most notably doo-wop

Doo-wop

The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...

, a style made popular in the mid-1950s and emulated in the songs "The Longest Time," "This Night," and "Careless Talk."

The album featured three Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Top 10 hit singles: "Tell Her About It", which reached #1, "Uptown Girl", which peaked at #3 and "An Innocent Man", which peaked at #10. Four other singles were released from the album: "The Longest Time" (number 14), "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" (number 27), "Keeping the Faith" (number 18) and "This Night" (US B-Side of "Leave a Tender Moment Alone"). "Tell Her About It" and "Uptown Girl" garnered international success — "Uptown Girl" reached #1 in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. In most countries, commercial reaction to An Innocent Man was not impressive upon its release, but success of the first two singles stimulated album sales gradually. It entered the U.S. Pop chart for 111 weeks, becoming his longest charting studio album behind The Stranger. For over a year, the album had remained on the charts in the UK, Japan, and Oceanian countries.

Like his three previous efforts, An Innocent Man received a nomination for the 26th Grammy Award for Album of the Year

Grammy Award for Album of the Year

The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer...

 — although it lost to Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

's Thriller

Thriller (album)

Thriller is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released on November 30, 1982, by Epic Records as the follow-up to Jackson's critically and commercially successful 1979 album Off the Wall...

.

Track listing

All songs by Billy Joel, except for the chorus for "This Night," credited on the sleeve to L. V. Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...

.

The track listing on the LP is slightly different from that on the cassette and original CD pressings, with the latter swapping "The Longest Time" and "Uptown Girl"'s places respectively. However, on the actual cassette shell and disc label, the songs are listed (and play) in the correct order as printed on the LP.

LP Track Listing

Personnel

• Billy Joel - Baldwin acoustic piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
   (SF-10), Fender Rhodes, Hammond B-3
  Hammond organ
  The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
  
  , vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  , background vocals
• Liberty DeVitto
  Liberty DeVitto
  Liberty DeVitto is an American rock drummer. He is best known as the drummer for Billy Joel, but has also played with the NYC Hit Squad and has been a session drummer on recordings of other artists.-Career:...
  
   - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Doug Stegmeyer
  Doug Stegmeyer
  Doug Stegmeyer was a musician best known as the bassist for Billy Joel.-Career:Doug Stegmeyer met Russell Javors in high school. At age 15, Javors was performing songs with childhood friend Liberty DeVitto. From then, the boys, along with Howard Emerson, formed the band Topper.Together they...
  
   - bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• David Brown - electric guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  , acoustic guitar, lead guitar
  Lead guitar
  Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
  
  
• Russell Javors
  Russell Javors
  Russell Javors is an American rock guitarist. He is best known as a primary guitarist for Billy Joel from 1976 to 1989.-Career:...
  
   - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar
  Rhythm guitar
  Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
  
  
• Mark Rivera
  Mark Rivera
  Mark Rivera is a musician, musical director and corporate entertainment provider. In addition to playing soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones, Rivera's musical talents encompass vocals, guitar, percussion and keyboards.-Education:...
  
   - alto saxophone
  Alto saxophone
  The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
  
  , tenor saxophone
  Tenor saxophone
  The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
  
  , percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  
• Ralph MacDonald - percussion on "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" and "Careless Talk"
• Leon Pendarvis - Hammond B-3 on "Easy Money"
• Richard Tee
  Richard Tee
  Richard Tee was a pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger.Tee graduated from the High School of Music and Art and attended the Manhattan School of Music. Though better known as a studio and session musician, Tee led a jazz ensemble, the Richard Tee Committee, and was a founding member of the...
  
   - acoustic piano on "Tell Her About It"
• Eric Gale
  Eric Gale
  Eric J. Gale was a leading American jazz and session guitarist.Born in Brooklyn, New York, Gale began playing guitar at the age of 12. Although he majored in chemistry at Niagara University, Gale was determined to pursue a musical career, and began contributing to accompaniments for such stars as...
  
   - electric guitar on "Easy Money"
• "String Fever" - strings
• Ronnie Cuber
  Ronnie Cuber
  Ronnie Cuber is a jazz saxophonist. He has also played in Latin, pop, rock and blues sessions. In addition to his primary instrument, baritone sax, he has also played tenor sax, soprano sax and flute, the latter on an album by Eddie Palmieri. As a leader, Cuber is known for hard bop and Latin jazz...
  
   - baritone saxophone
  Baritone saxophone
  The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
  
   on "Easy Money", "Careless Talk", "Tell Her About It" and "Keeping the Faith"
• Jon Faddis
  Jon Faddis
  Jon Faddis is an American jazz trumpet player, conductor, composer, and educator renowned for both his highly virtuosic command of the instrument and for his expertise in the field of music education...
  
   - trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
   on "Easy Money"
• David Sanborn
  David Sanborn
  David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
  
   - alto saxophone on "Easy Money"
• Joe Shepley - trumpet on "Easy Money", "Careless Talk", "Tell Her About It" and "Keeping the Faith"
• Michael Brecker
  Michael Brecker
  Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
  
   - tenor saxophone on "Careless Talk", "Tell Her About It" and "Keeping the Faith"
• John Gatchell - trumpet on "Careless Talk", "Tell Her About It" and "Keeping the Faith"
• Tom Bahler - background vocals
• Rory Dodd
  Rory Dodd
  Rory Dodd is a Canadian rock vocalist who has performed many songs written by Jim Steinman. He is probably best known for singing the "Turn around, bright eyes" lyrics on Bonnie Tyler's version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart."...
  
   - background vocals
• Frank Floyd - background vocals
• Lani Groves - background vocals
• Ullanda McCullough - background vocals
• Ron Taylor - background vocals
• Terry Textor - background vocals
• Eric Troyer
  Eric Troyer
  Eric Lee Troyer is an American keyboardist, singer, songwriter, and occasional guitarist, best known as a member of ELO Part II and its successor, popular live band, The Orchestra. Troyer was a founding member of ELO Part II, having been recruited by band leader Bev Bevan in 1989.-Life and...
  
   - background vocals
• Mike Alexander - background vocals

Solos

• "Toots" Thielemans
  Toots Thielemans
  Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans , known as Toots Thielemans, is a Belgian jazz musician well known for his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his whistling. Thielemans is credited as one of the greatest harmonica players of the 20th century...
  
   - harmonica
  Harmonica
  The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
  
   on "Leave a Tender Moment Alone"
• Mark Rivera - alto saxophone on "Keeping the Faith", "This Night" and "Christie Lee"

Production

• Producer: Phil Ramone
• Engineers: Jim Boyer, Bradshaw Leigh
• Assistant engineers: Mike Allaire, Scott James
• Production coordinator: Laura Loncteaux
• Mastering: Ted Jensen
  Ted Jensen
  Ted Jensen is an American recording engineer. Jensen is the chief mastering engineer at Sterling Sound. He started his career as a mastering engineer in 1976 and is currently the most active Mastering Engineer in the industry...
  
  
• Horn and string arrangements: David Matthews
• Background vocal arrangements: Tom Bahler
• Musical advisor: Billy Zampino
• Photography: Gilles Larrain
• Cover design: Christopher Austopchuk, Mark Larson

• Recorded at Chelsea Sound and A & R Recording, Inc., New York, NY
• Mixed at A & R Recording, Inc., New York, NY
• Mastered at Sterling Sound, New York, NY

Grammy Awards

|-
| width="35" align="center" rowspan="2"|1984 || An Innocent Man || Album of the Year ||
|-
|"Uptown Girl" || | Best Pop Vocal Performance - Male

Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was awarded between 1966 and 2011...

 ||

American Music Awards

|-
| style="width:35px; text-align:center;" rowspan="2"|1981

American Music Awards of 1981

The 8th Annual American Music Awards were held on January 30, 1981.-Pop/Rock Category:-Soul/R&B Category:-Country Category:...

 || Billy Joel (performer) || Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist||
|-
| "Tell Her About It" || Favorite Pop/Rock Video ||
|-

Peak positions

Chart (1983-85)	Position
Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998...	3
Canadian RPM Albums Chart RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...	12
Dutch Mega Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top...	14
French SNEP Albums Chart	11
Japanese Oricon LP Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...	3
New Zealand Albums Chart	1
Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by...	9
Swedish Albums Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....	39
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	2
United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...  Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	4
West German Media Control Albums Chart	36

Certifications and sales

Year-end charts

Chart (1983)	Position
Australian Albums Chart	11
Canadian Albums Chart RPM Year-End RPM Year-End charts are a cumulative measure of a single or album's performance in Canada, based upon the RPM magazine charts during any given chart year.-RPM year-end number ones:...	42
Japanese Albums Chart	18
UK Albums Chart	25
Chart (1984)	Position
Australian Albums Chart	6
Canadian Albums Chart	31
Japanese Albums Chart	58
UK Albums Chart	9
U.S. Billboard Year-end	4

Decade-end charts

Chart (1980-89)	Position
Australian Albums Chart	12