Billy Joel's New Uptown Girl

A newly single Billy Joel was Uptown last night with his new girl. The star, who is currently going through the motions of divorcing former Top Chef host Katie Lee Joel, hit the opening night of the new Metropolitan Opera season on New York's Upper West Side with gorgeous date Deborah Dampiere on his arm.

The Piano Man had been dating former The Young and The Restless star, Alex Donnelley, but it looks like that was just a summer fling.

Fellow opera-goers tell OK! that Billy and Ms. Dampiere looked "very much together" and that she "stroked Billy's back while he chatted with friends."

Billy, who announced that he was splitting with his third wife Katie in June, told OK! that he isn't quite sure how the single life is treating him yet.

"Well, it hasn't been that long," he said. "It's kind of a lot of mishegas, which is a great Yiddish word meaning... 'stuff'". (FYI, Billy, our Yiddish dictionary tells us it means, "craziness or madness", but whatever you say).

"So I don't know yet, but I'm enjoying dating this lovely lady," he added, introducing us to Deborah.

And while it is always rude to ask, we can report that Billy and Deborah certainly look, er, closer in age than the 33 years that separated Billy and Katie.