Celebrity News

Billy Joel paid up to $2M to perform at hedge honcho’s bash

Wealthy New York hedge funder Thomas Kempner Jr. celebrated his 60th birthday with a host of billionaires — and Billy Joel, who was paid up to $2 million to perform. Kempner, head of Davidson Kempner Capital Management LLC and the son of the late wit, fashion darling and social doyenne Nan Kempner, was feted by friends and family at the American Museum of Natural History on Wednesday night. A throng of sharp-suited financial heavyweights attended including Blackstone’s Tony James, hedge funder Dan Loeb, former Goldman Sachs honcho David Hamamoto and Kempner’s banker father Thomas Kempner. We’re told the party was organized by Kempner Jr.’s wife, Kitty, and Joel played for an hour and a half. One guest joked, “It was a lovely party — some of Thomas’ family members made touching speeches, then Billy Joel played with his band for a long time. But it was amusing to see all the billionaires dancing to Billy’s ‘Allentown’ about the depressed manufacturing industry. Nobody there would know anything about working at a steel mine unless they owned one.” Reps for Kempner and Joel declined to comment on how much he was paid to perform.