Some talents need to woodshed in bars, or matriculate at a Juilliard or Berklee to find themselves, get their music together.
For 23-year-old Alexa Ray Joel, the instinct to sing, play, compose and sometimes clown about for people was homeschooled -- and probably genetic.
Take her pitch-perfect singing and big kit bag of stylistic flourishes, which allow this versatile vocalist/songwriter to sound like a Billie Holiday or Etta James one moment, then a Carole King or even a Dolly Parton the next.
"My ear training came in a very organic way, just from futzing around, singing with my dad at the piano," said Lex, as fans call her.
"My parents are also total comedians. And my dad can impersonate everyone. I bust on him sometimes when he tries to sing a song like Ray Charles. I'll say, 'Do your songs your way.' I've definitely inherited that gift for impressions, too. But the challenge is to find me in all that."
Clearly, Joel has had more than your average share of advantages, as well as challenges. Her dad, as you may have already guessed, is Billy Joel, the hugely successful pop-rock singer/songwriter who's on the road now with Elton John.
And her no-slouch of a mom is supermodel, actress and social activist Christie Brinkley.
Getting out from under those long shadows has always been a challenge, though in truth she's thrilled if someone compares her favorably to her father, or the aforementioned King, her other big role model.
"I'm always experimenting, but I think I'm getting closer to my sound -- a female version of my dad's classic sound mixed with a bit more jazz and blues, and with very soulful vocals."
It was actually mom who pushed her to pursue a music career, Joel said. Things started to simmer when she was 16 or 17, "writing a lot of Broadway- and classical-styled songs."
Then a vocal coach encouraged her with the notion, "You have good ideas that could be catchy pop songs."
So she "started working with a band and began to really understand rhythm, the key concepts of tempo, hook and beat."
As money has never been a concern, Joel has been able to evolve creatively at her own pace, without the pressure to score a record deal, sign with a talent agency or latch onto a major artist's tour as the support act.
"In this day and age, given how little money the labels have, it's actually counterproductive to sign a deal and then have them drop you after one album," she said she's determined.
"The labels don't believe in career development anymore, like they did when my father was coming up. So I basically manage myself, book my own shows, even negotiate my salary. I also work with the band on their arrangements, even tell the musicians what to wear.
"And yeah," she added with a laugh, "I'm a bit of a control freak."
Three summers ago, Joel put out a self-produced EP, "Sketches" (she drew the album cover art, too), that earned positive reviews and more than a few comparisons to Norah Jones. But the singer/songwriter has let the CD version go out of print (it's still available online in MP3 form) and seems in no rush to put out a full-length follow-up.
"Last year was a bad one for me emotionally, which caused a huge writer's block and kept me off the road," she shared.
"I broke up with my boyfriend, who was also my bass player, and moved out of our place, which was like my refuge. That all left me struggling with my identity, which I think a lot of young women can relate to."
This year, Joel has bounced back, channeled those raw emotions into a fresh batch of songs and put together a new band enhanced (for the first time) with female backup singers.
"I've still got some pretty romantic songs in the mix," she said. "But if you're not satisfied in your love life, I think the work is deeper, more melancholy. You get more intellectual in those songs than when you're in love and on a cloud and don't think as much."
Some of those tenderhearted newbies -- "All I Can Do Is Love," "Take Me or Leave Me," "Sorry to Say" and "With Myself" -- can be found in demo form at myspace.com/alexarayjoel. And yes, these songs do show real growth, with sharper-focused melody lines, punchier arrangements and more subtly dramatized vocals, downplaying the warbly, Mariah Carey-like melodramatics that occasionally got the best of Joel on her EP.
The challenge now, she added, is to find an album producer who can deal with her still-eclectic instincts, "to bring out each song to the best of its ability, but streamline the project so it all feels like my sound. Sometimes I think I should be working with more of an R&B producer, then other times I think I should look for someone who's done classic rock. So I get confused."
No one's more encouraging than her dad, she said, which really gives Lex a boost.
"He was just about my age when he put out his first solo album ("Cold Spring Harbor") and says I'm much farther along creatively than he was. He tells me he wouldn't want me out there representing the Joel name if I didn't have it. And he doesn't like a lot of contemporary music, if the truth be known. So when he says he really likes my stuff, wow, that's saying a lot."
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