Conversation so far:
What happened in 1965?
Joel joined the Echoes, a group that specialized in British Invasion covers.
The Echoes began recording in 1965.
Was the Echoes successful?
CANNOTANSWER.
Did they release any albums?
CANNOTANSWER.
What else did he do in his early career?
Joel left the band in 1967 to join the Hassles, a Long Island group that had signed with United Artists Records.
Did he stay with that group long?
Over the next year and a half they released four singles and two albums (The Hassles and Hour of the Wolf).
All were commercial failures.

Question: How did he handle the failures?
Self-contained rewrite: How did Billy Joel handle the  four singles and two albums failures?