![Billy Joel Honors 9/11 Victims With Gov. Cuomo and N.Y.C. Firefighters](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2013/09/Billy-Joel-John-Moore.jpg?w=980&q=75)
Billy Joel Honors 9/11 Victims With Gov. Cuomo and N.Y.C. Firefighters
To honor the lives lost on Sept. 11, 2001, Billy Joel participated with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and a group of firefighters in a motorcycle ride in Manhattan. The route they took -- from a firehouse on W. 43rd St. down the West Side Highway to Ground Zero -- followed the path taken by Rescue 1, which lost half of its members, on that day 12 years ago.
"It's an honor," Joel said. "I was at Ground Zero a few days after 9/11, and it was the worst thing I ever saw in my life. To be asked to do this is very moving." The singer, whose lifelong love of motorcycles is well-known (he owns a custom shop in a town known as Oyster Bay, Long Island), rode a blue-and-white Drifter.
"[Joel is] the quintessential New York citizen who never forgot where he came from," Cuomo, who rode a black Harley-Davidson, told the Daily News.
Accompanying the duo were the N.Y.C. Fire Riders, a motorcycle club comprised of past and present members of the New York Fire Department. The club was established in Queens in 1985 to, according to their website, "unite firefighters, have a good time and promote safe motorcycling."
"They got hit hard," Joel added. "These are all good men. It was a very, very sad day, and they lost a lot of people. It's still an open wound."
More From Cool 98.7 FM
![Here’s How You Can Win a Trip to Las Vegas to Experience Billy Joel in Concert](http://townsquare.media/site/241/files/2024/04/attachment-featured_1600x10672.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![40 Years Ago: Billy Joel Escapes Writer’s Block With ‘Pressure’](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2022/09/attachment-Pressure.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Watch Billy Joel Duet With ‘Huge Fan’ Olivia Rodrigo](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2022/08/attachment-joel.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![9/11 Wisdom. My Preteen Daughter Saved My Savage Soul.](http://townsquare.media/site/503/files/2020/09/GettyImages-1161120.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Watch Jon Bon Jovi Guest With Billy Joel](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2020/01/bonjkon.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![A Billy Joel TV Series Is in the Works](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2019/09/Billy-Joel-smile.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Billy Joel’s Songs Are Being Turned Into Their Own TV Show](http://townsquare.media/site/442/files/2019/09/billy-joel.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![ND First Responders Reenact 9/11 Climb](http://townsquare.media/site/506/files/2018/09/First-Responders_Mark-Witte.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Stevie Nicks’ 9/11 Diary: ‘A Tragedy Like No One Has Ever Seen’](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2018/09/nicks.jpg?w=980&q=75)