The Freshman Who Asked Billy Joel to Play Along

Michael Pollack was a first-year student at Vanderbilt when he walked to an audience microphone and asked Billy Joel for a favor most fans would never dare to ask. Joel said yes, and the next few minutes changed the freshman's life.

A Question From the Back of the Hall

The night was Wednesday, January 30, 2013, at Langford Auditorium in Nashville. The Vanderbilt Programming Board had booked Joel for "An Evening of Questions and Answers and a Little Bit of Music," and about 1,000 audience members filled the hall.

Pollack, a Long Island native, took the audience microphone. "My favorite song of yours is 'New York State of Mind,'" he said, and asked whether he could play it with Joel. He mentioned that he had already played it with Richie Cannata, Joel's longtime saxophonist.

"OK"

Joel did not hesitate for long. He said OK and asked what key Pollack played the song in.

Pollack sat down at the piano, Joel sang, and the student played it flawlessly. When it was over, Joel turned to the crowd. "Remember that name," he said. "Guy's got chops!"

Afterward, Joel emailed Pollack to thank him for the performance.

The Clip Takes Off

Joel's own website posted the full video on February 8, 2013, with the note "Nice going Michael!" For the first month, about 100,000 people watched it online.

Then, on an ordinary Tuesday in March, the count jumped. Within about a day, Pollack wrote in Vanderbilt's magazine, he was in New York City and was told that more than 20 million people had viewed the video in its many forms. NPR's report that week quoted him calling the night probably the greatest moment of his life.

Where He Is Now

Pollack went on to write songs for a living. He co-wrote Miley Cyrus's "Flowers" with Cyrus and Gregory Aldae Hein, and he has credits on Maroon 5's "Memories" and Justin Bieber's "Ghost." BMI named him Songwriter of the Year at its 2022 Pop Awards, a title he shared with Omer Fedi.

"Flowers" won Record of the Year at the 2024 Grammys. The Recording Academy lists Pollack on that award as one of the song's engineers and mixers, a separate credit from his songwriting on the track.

The video from Langford Auditorium is still on Joel's official YouTube channel, where anyone can watch a freshman at the piano take his one chance.