Michael Feinstein

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Michael Feinstein

| image = Stephen Sorokoff-246.jpg

| caption = Feinstein performing at Feinstein's/54 Below in New York City, June 2017

| image_size =

| background = solo_singer

| birth_name = Michael Jay Feinstein

| alias =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1956|9|7|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Columbus, Ohio, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}}

| death_place =

| origin =

| instrument = Vocals, piano

| genre = The Great American Songbook

| occupation = Singer, pianist, music archivist

| years_active = 1977–present

| label = Nonesuch/Elektra Records, Concord Records

| associated_acts =

| website = {{URL|michaelfeinstein.com}}

| current_members =

| past_members =

}}

Michael Jay Feinstein (born September 7, 1956) is an American singer, pianist, and music revivalist. He is an archivist and interpreter for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988, he won a Drama Desk Special Award for celebrating American musical theater songs. Feinstein is also a multi-platinum-selling, five-time Grammy-nominated recording artist.{{cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/whoswho/biography/18873 |title=Search The Vault : Michael Feinstein |work=Playbill |access-date=May 7, 2014}} He is the founder of the Great American Songbook Foundation and the artistic director for Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana.{{cite web|url=http://thecenterfortheperformingarts.org |title=The Center for the Performing Arts – Home of the Palladium – Carmel, Indiana |publisher=Thecenterfortheperformingarts.org |access-date=May 7, 2014}}{{Cite web |title=Our Team |url=https://thesongbook.org/about/our-team/ |access-date=December 4, 2024 |website=Great American Songbook Foundation}}

Early life

Feinstein was born in Columbus, Ohio, the son of Florence Mazie (née Cohen), an amateur tap dancer, and Edward Feinstein, a sales executive for the Sara Lee Corporation and a former amateur singer.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/41/Michael-Feinstein.html |title=Michael Feinstein Biography (1956-) |publisher=Filmreference.com |access-date=May 7, 2014}} Michael Feinstein is Jewish. At the age of five, he studied piano for a couple of months until his teacher became angered that he was not reading the sheet music she gave him, since he was more comfortable playing by ear. As his mother saw no problem with her son's method, she took him out of lessons and allowed him to enjoy playing music in his own way.{{Cite web |last=Mallet |first=George |date=August 2, 2022 |title=A conversation with singer, pianist, icon Michael Feinstein |url=https://www.wishtv.com/lifestylelive/a-conversation-with-singer-pianist-icon-michael-feinstein/ |access-date=November 2, 2023 |website=Indianapolis News {{!}} Indiana Weather {{!}} Indiana Traffic {{!}} WISH-TV {{!}} |language=en-US}}

Career

After graduating from high school, Feinstein worked in local piano bars for two years, moving to Los Angeles when he was 20. Through the widow of concert pianist and actor Oscar Levant, he was introduced in 1977 to Ira Gershwin, who hired him to catalog his extensive collection of phonograph records. The assignment led to six years of researching, cataloging, and preserving the unpublished sheet music and rare recordings in Gershwin's home, Ira's works but also those of Ira's brother, composer George Gershwin. During Feinstein's years with Ira Gershwin, he also got to know Gershwin's next-door neighbor, singer Rosemary Clooney, with whom Feinstein formed a friendship lasting until Clooney's death. Feinstein served as musical consultant for the 1983 Broadway show My One and Only, a musical pastiche of Gershwin tunes.

By the mid-1980s, Feinstein was a nationally known cabaret singer-pianist famed for being a proponent of the Great American Songbook. In 1986, he recorded his first CD, Pure Gershwin (1987), a collection of music by George and Ira Gershwin. That was followed by Live at the Algonquin (1986); Remember: Michael Feinstein Sings Irving Berlin (1987); Isn't It Romantic (1988), a collection of standards and his first album backed by an orchestra; and Over There (1989), featuring the music of America and Europe during World War I. Feinstein recorded Pure Imagination, his only children's album, in 1992. In the 1987 episode "But Not for Me" of the TV series thirtysomething, he sang "But Not for Me", "Love Is Here to Stay," and Isn't It Romantic?.

By 1988, Feinstein was starring on Broadway in a series of in-concert shows: Michael Feinstein in Concert (April through June 1988), Michael Feinstein in Concert: "Isn't It Romantic" (October through November 1988), and Michael Feinstein in Concert: Piano and Voice (October 1990). He returned to Broadway in 2010, in a concert special duo with Dame Edna titled All About Me (March through April 2010).{{IBDB name|40292}} In 1991 his persona as a cabaret performer was parodied in the third season of Mystery Science Theater 3000, which covered the Kaiju movie Gamera vs. Guiron. At the episode's close, Feinstein, played by the show's head writer Michael J. Nelson, sang a cabaret version of the Gamera theme song to the characters Dr. Clayton Forrester and TV's Frank.

In the early 1990s, Feinstein embarked on a songbook project where he performed an album featuring the music of a featured composer, often accompanied by the composer. They included collaborations with Burton Lane (two volumes: 1990, 1992), Jule Styne (1991), Jerry Herman (Michael Feinstein Sings the Jerry Herman Songbook, 1993), Hugh Martin (1995), Jimmy Webb (Only One Life: The Songs of Jimmy Webb, 2003) and Jay Livingston/Ray Evans (2002). Feinstein also recorded three albums of standards with Maynard Ferguson: Forever (1993), Such Sweet Sorrow (1995), and Big City Rhythms (1999).

In the late 1990s, Feinstein recorded two more albums of Gershwin music: Nice Work If You Can Get It: Songs by the Gershwins (1996) and Michael & George: Feinstein Sings Gershwin (1998). His albums in the 21st century include Romance on Film, Romance on Broadway (2000), Michael Feinstein with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (2001), Hopeless Romantics (2005, featuring George Shearing), and The Sinatra Project (2008).

File:HamlischFeinsteinByPhilKonstantin.jpg performing a duet of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes," in April 2009.]]

Impact and legacy

In 2000, the Library of Congress appointed Feinstein to the National Recording Preservation Board, an organization dedicated to safeguarding America's musical heritage.{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/nrpb-about.html |title=Overview: National Recording Preservation Board (Library of Congress) |publisher=Loc.gov |date=October 24, 2013 |access-date=May 7, 2014}} In 2009, Feinstein became the artistic director of Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts.{{cite web|url=http://www.wthr.com/story/11185150/michael-feinstein-taking-post-with-carmel-arts-hall?redirected=true |title=Michael Feinstein taking post with Carmel arts hall - 13 WTHR Indianapolis |publisher=Wthr.com |access-date=May 7, 2014}}

Feinstein teamed with Cheyenne Jackson in 2009 to create a nightclub act titled "The Power of Two". The show was hailed by The New York Times as "passionate", "impeccably harmonized" and "groundbreaking".{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/arts/music/04fein.html | title=What Secret Hearts? Let the Sunshine In | work=The New York Times |date=March 6, 2009 | access-date=June 21, 2009 | first=Stephen | last=Holden}} Variety acclaimed it as "dazzlingly entertaining".{{cite news | url=https://variety.com/2009/legit/news/cabarets-change-menu-1118005433/ | title=Cabarets Change | work=Variety |date=June 27, 2009 | access-date=June 27, 2009 | first=Steven | last=Suskin}} Their act became one of the most critically acclaimed shows of 2009,{{cite news | url=http://www.theatermania.com/new-york/reviews/06-2009/michael-feinstein-and-cheyenne-jackson-the-power-o_19429.html | title=The Power of Two | work=TheaterMania |date=March 6, 2009 | access-date=June 21, 2009}}{{cite news | url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-finkle/life-is-still-a-cabaret-v_b_215515.html | title=Life Is Still a Cabaret, Vow Feinstein, Jackson | work=HuffPost|date=June 16, 2009 | access-date=June 21, 2009 | first=David | last=Finkle}}{{cite news | url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2009/06/12/2009-06-12_odd_couples_take_city_cabarets_in_.html | title=Odd Couple Take Over City Cabaret | work=Daily News|location=New York |date=December 6, 2009 | access-date=June 22, 2009 | first=Joe | last=Dziemianowicz}} and the duo created a studio album from the material, titled The Power of Two, and it included their cover of the Indigo Girls song of the same name.

In 2010, PBS aired Michael Feinstein's American Songbook, a three-part television documentary which depicts the history of the American popular song up to 1960 as well as Feinstein's own life and career.{{cite web|url=http://www.michaelfeinsteinsamericansongbook.org/pbs_series.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017062052/http://www.michaelfeinsteinsamericansongbook.org/pbs_series.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=October 17, 2010 |title=Michael Feinstein's American Songbook | The PBS Series |publisher=Michaelfeinsteinsamericansongbook.org |access-date=May 7, 2014}} Feinstein has written the score for two stage musicals, The Night They Saved Macy's Parade and The Gold Room.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/01/arts/music/01fein.html | title=Feinstein Comes Full Swing to Capitol-Era Sinatra | work=The New York Times |date=September 1, 2008 | access-date=January 15, 2017}}

His Manhattan nightclub, Feinstein's at Loews Regency New York, presented the top talent of pop and jazz from 1999 to 2012, including Rosemary Clooney, Liza Minnelli, Glen Campbell, Barbara Cook, Diahann Carroll, Jane Krakowski, Lea Michele, Cyndi Lauper, Jason Mraz, and Alan Cumming. The club was closed in December 2012 due to a year-long renovation of the entire Regency Hotel. Feinstein opened the nightclub Feinstein's at the Nikko at the Nikko Hotel in San Francisco in May 2013. In 2015, he entered into a creative partnership with the founders of 54 Below, located in the basement of New York's Studio 54, and they rebranded the nightclub as Feinstein's/54 Below until their partnership ended in 2022.{{Cite web |title=About the Club |url=https://54below.org/about/ |access-date=April 28, 2023 |website=54 Below |language=en-US}}

From 2012 to 2015, Feinstein was the host of the weekly, one-hour radio program Song Travels with Michael Feinstein, produced by South Carolina ETV Radio and distributed by NPR. On the program, Feinstein explored the legendary songs of 20th century America. The series surveys the passage of American popular song throughout the American landscape, evolving with each artist and performance.{{cite web|title=Song Travels Michael Feinstein|url=http://www.michaelfeinstein.com/wp/?page_id=972|website=michaelfeinstein.com|access-date=October 8, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102060521/http://www.michaelfeinstein.com/wp/?page_id=972|archive-date=November 2, 2014}}

Feinstein was named Principal Pops Conductor for the Pasadena POPS in 2012 and made his conducting debut in June 2013. In 2016, Feinstein's contract with the Pasadena POPS was extended through 2019.{{cite web|url=http://www.pasadenanow.com/main/michael-feinstein-renews-contract-with-pasadena-pops/|title=Michael Feinstein Renews Contract with Pasadena POPS|publisher=Pasadena Now|access-date=May 30, 2016}} Feinstein's memoir The Gershwins and Me: A Personal History in Twelve Songs about working for Ira Gershwin was published in Fall 2012, accompanied by a CD of Feinstein's performing the Gershwin brothers' music discussed in the book.{{cite web|title=Michael Feinstein: What I Learned From The Gershwins|url=https://www.npr.org/2012/10/13/162738387/michael-feinstein-what-i-learned-from-the-gershwins|work=NPR music|publisher=NPR|access-date=October 21, 2012|date=October 13, 2012}} In April 2013, Feinstein released Change Of Heart: The Songs of André Previn, (Concord) in collaboration with composer-conductor-pianist André Previn, with an album celebrating Previn's repertoire from his catalog of pop songs which have most commonly been featured in motion pictures. The album's first song is "(You've Had) a Change of Heart".

On October 31, 2014, Feinstein's Michael Feinstein at the Rainbow Room premiered on PBS, with guest stars. The special is part of the 2014 PBS Arts Fall Festival, a primetime program with 11 weekly programs of classic Broadway hits and music as well as some award-winning theater performances. Feinstein has appeared numerous times as a presenter on Turner Classic Movies. After cohosting with Robert Osborne for a night in January 2015, he returned to the channel as a guest host in August 2016 and December 2017.

= Great American Songbook Foundation =

Feinstein founded the Great American Songbook Foundation, first named the Michael Feinstein Initiative, in 2007. Today, the Songbook Foundation is housed in The Palladium at Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana. The organization is dedicated to the preservation, research, and exhibition of the physical artifacts of the Great American Songbook and educating about the music's relevance to contemporary culture. The organization maintains an archive and reference library and a rotating exhibit gallery, and announced in 2023 the plan to build a free-standing museum on a 3.7-acre site north of its current location.{{Cite news |title=Songbook Foundation reaches agreement for museum site [Press Release] |url=https://thesongbook.org/about/news-media/news-release-items/site-selected-for-songbook-museum/ |work=Great American Songbook Foundation}}

Feinstein has been a guest mentor of the Songbook Academy since its inception in 2009.[http://www.thecenterfortheperformingarts.org/Great-American-Songbook-Inititative/Annual-Competition/2013-Judges Judges]. Thecenterfortheperformingarts.org. Retrieved June 21, 2015 The summer music intensive is hosted annually by the Great American Songbook Foundation and immerses high school students in America's musical heritage and fosters artistic identity through song.{{Cite web |title=The Songbook Academy |url=https://thesongbook.org/programs/the-songbook-academy/ |website=Great American Songbook Foundation}} Feinstein is a contributor to the Songbook Library & Archives, which houses several archival collections of sheet music, musical arrangements, books, LPs and other music recording formats, memorabilia, photographs, videos, documents, and more.

Since 2021, the Songbook Foundation publishes a web series titled "In the Archives with Michael Feinstein," where Feinstein hosts behind-the-scenes discussions with celebrity guests and archival experts about artifacts and collections housed in the Songbook Library & Archives.{{Cite web |title=In the Archives with Michael Feinstein |url=https://thesongbook.org/library-archives/in-the-archives-web-series/ |access-date=December 4, 2024 |website=Great American Songbook Foundation}}

Personal life

In October 2008, Feinstein married his longtime partner Terrence Flannery.{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-oct-03-la-ca-michael-feinstein-20101003-story.html | title=Michael Feinstein is in the national treasure business | work=Los Angeles Times |date=October 3, 2010 | access-date=October 6, 2010 | first=Josh | last=Getlin}} The ceremony was performed by family court and television judge Judith Sheindlin, also known as Judge Judy.{{cite episode | series=Larry King Live |network=CNN |date=November 10, 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8wXFJvrVOo&t=4m42s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/l8wXFJvrVOo |archive-date=December 21, 2021 |url-status=live|title=Judge Judy on Larry King Live}}{{cbignore}} Feinstein and Flannery have homes in New York, Los Angeles, and Indiana.

Discography

References

{{cite book| last = Feinstein| first = Michael| title = Nice Work If You Can Get It: My Life in Rhythm and Rhyme| url = https://archive.org/details/niceworkifyoucan0000fein| url-access = registration| year = 1995| publisher = Hyperion| isbn = 978-0-7868-6093-7}}

Notes

External links

{{Official website|http://www.michaelfeinstein.com}}
[http://www.purefeinstein.com/ Official fan club]
[https://thesongbook.org/ Great American Songbook Foundation]
[https://www.npr.org/series/150560513/song-travels Song Travels with Michael Feinstein]
[https://thecenterpresents.org/ The Center for the Performing Arts]
{{IMDb name|id=0270750|name=Michael Feinstein}}
{{IBDB name}}
{{Cite archival metadata

|author = Finding aid author: John N. Gillespie

|title = Michael Feinstein collection of studio recordings

|url = http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/11215

|repository = L. Tom Perry Special Collections

|location = Provo, UT

|year = 2013

|accessdate = May 16, 2016

}}