Billy Joel is back with a bang

Billy Joel is back in the news this week after being treated in hospital on Sunday after smashing his car into a tree along a highway on Long Island.

The 53-year-old singer was later released from Stony Brook University Hospital after spending about seven hours there.

The accident happened when Joel swerved into the tree as he was driving his Mercedes-Benz in Sag Harbour late on Saturday night.

No charges were filed and Joel wasn’t tested for driving under the influence.

Joel has had more than two dozen Top Ten hits in his career, including Piano Man, Movin Out and Uptown Girl.

Last summer, he voluntarily checked into a substance abuse and psychiatric centre in Connecticut after becoming “very depressed” when a respiratory infection forced him to cut short a tour with fellow piano player Elton John.

He told People magazine in July that he had begun “what I ultimately realised was a prolonged period of overindulgence.”