Billy Joel Gives Students Surprise Show

Hamptons Piano Man Billy Joel made a surprise appearance at Tony Bennet‘s Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens on Thursday, according to an Associated Press report.

The famous singer-songwriter performed two songs—”New York State of Mind” and “She’s Got a Way“—and answered questions for an assembly full of 400 students.

AP reports that one student asked Joel to reveal his biggest mistake, to which he answered, “My biggest mistake was signing a lot of contracts that I didn’t know what they were about,” then added, “I signed away a lot of my rights—record royalties, publishing rights, copyrights and it took me years to get that stuff back.”

Answering another question, Joel later told students his favorite collaborator was Australian model and former girlfriend Elle Macpherson. “That was a good collaboration,” he said.

He also hugged one student, signed a yearbook and gave an autograph for a young girl’s mother, the AP reports.