Billy Joel Cancels Memoir, Returns Portion of Advance to HarperCollins

The Piano Man has pulled out of his plans to publish a memoir.

HarperCollins said on Thursday that Billy Joel’s memoir, The Book of Joel, had been written by Fred Schruers, edited and was ready to hit shelves in June when the singer backed out of his contract this week.   Joel is expected to return the portion of the advance that he has already received to HarperCollins, which acquired the book in 2008 for $3 million.    Joel told the Associated Press in a statement that writing the book made him realize that he was “not all that interested in talking about the past.”