Legendary singer Billy Joel said he always looked forward to being a father, in large part because his father left the family after divorcing his mother when he was just eight years old.

“It means a lot to me, and I think that’s maybe part of the father thing,” Joel told People during an interview published on Thursday. “I didn’t have a dad, so it was very important for me to be a dad.”

The 76-year-old “Piano Man” singer is a father of three, including daughter Alexa Ray, 39, whom he shares with his ex-wife, former model Christie Brinkley. Joel remarried for the fourth time in 2015 and had two more girls: Della, 9, and Remy, 7.

“I love all of my girls. And poetic justice, I had all girls, of course, but I’m really enjoying this a lot,” he told the outlet. “It’s something I was looking forward to all my life, and here I am.”

While Joel believed he was “too old” to have more children after marrying equestrian Alexis Roderick, he went on to have his youngest daughters at the ages of 66 and 68. 

“Having these little kids at this time in my life is such a joy,” Joel said in a documentary about his life, as the outlet noted. “I have time to be with them … I wanted to make sure that they got everything they needed from me, so I kind of knuckled down and took fatherhood very, very seriously.”

It’s a topic he’s visited before. In 2023, the “Uptown Girl” singer said he revels in being there for his kids.

“I wait around for the kids to come back from school. I love hanging out with my children,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “They’re so much fun and so interesting to me. I get to be a stay-at-home dad. That’s how I enjoy my life these days.”

Joel, who was recently diagnosed with a brain condition affecting his balance and vision, is currently promoting his new HBO documentary series “Billy Joel: And So It Goes,” which includes details about his father leaving the family. The six-time Grammy Award winner said he tracked down his dad when he was in his early 20s and found him living in Vienna with a new family.

The singer told People he wished his dad were proud of him, but said they “never really made a strong connection … It’s disappointing.”

Joel’s father passed away in 2011.