Overview
- Jon Small died on Friday, Sept. 4; he was in his late 70s and no cause of death has been made public.
- Billy Joel posted a brief Instagram tribute reading “RIP Jon Small,” and a funeral service is reported for Sept. 9 in Great Neck, New York.
- Small and Joel began as teenage bandmates in 1960s New York with the Hassles and later formed the hard-rock duo Attila before their personal split in the early 1970s.
- The two fell out when Joel had an affair with Small’s then-wife Elizabeth Weber, an episode that led to a violent confrontation and later to Joel’s near-suicide and Small driving him to the hospital.
- Small rebuilt his career as a director of music videos and concert films — including Run‑DMC/Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” and multiple Billy Joel concert films — and the 2025 HBO documentary renewed public focus on their fraught but creative partnership.