More than 25 years since his professional recording debut, Michael Feinstein has become something of a gay activist. He married his long time Terrence Flannery in October 2008. The ceremony was performed by famed family court & television judge Judith Sheindlin, also known as Judge Judy, a good friend of the couple. The Feinstein/ Flannerys have homes in NYC & LA.
Feinstein is an anthropologist & archivist for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. The Library of Congress elected him to the National Sound Recording Advisory Board, an organization dedicated to safeguarding America’s musical heritage.
Feinstein was born to Jewish/American parents in Columbus, Ohio. At the age of 5, he studied piano for a couple of months until his teacher became angered that he wasn't reading the sheet music she gave him, he was more comfortable playing by ear. His mother saw no problem with her son's method, she took him out of lessons & allowed him to enjoy music his own way.
After graduating from high school, he worked in local piano bars, moving to LA when he was 20. Through the widow of legendary concert pianist-actor Oscar Levant (who deserves to be rediscovered), he was introduced to Ira Gershwin, who hired him to catalogue his extensive collection of phonograph records.
The assignment led to a 6 year musical excavation of Gershwin's home in Beverly Hills, preserving the legacy of Ira & his composer brother George, who had died 4 decades earlier. Feinstein's extended stay at the Gershwin’s’ enabled him to get to know next door neighbor Rosemary Clooney, who said come-ona-my- house. Clooney & Feinstein enjoyed an intensely close friendship lasting until Clooney's death. He later would serve as musical consultant for My One and Only, a Broadway musical made up from different of Gershwin tunes.
Liza Minnelli helped sponsor his 1986 New York City debut, & his Broadway show- Isn't It Romantic, was a critical & commercial success. 3 years later, he recorded his first CD- The MGM Album, a collection of tunes from some of the studio's most popular movie musicals. He followed this with Live at the Algonquin & compilations of songs by Burton Lane, Jule Styne, and Jerry Herman.
Feinstein has spent his entire adult life chronicling, cataloguing, chronicling, conserving, championing, & recording the work of various composers: the Gershwins , Hugh Martin, Jimmy Webb, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans, & Johnny Mercer.
Feinstein is the owner of the Manhattan nightclub- Feinstein's at the Regency, a showcase for cabaret performers. he recently completed a 6-part Warner Home Video series for television that depicts the history of the American popular song up to 1960.
I appreciate his talents a great deal. My mother, who knows a thing or 2 about music, has stated that our singing sounds similar. I should be so talented. Well, actually our singing is similar, I'm just not one to toot my own horn. Feinstein turns 55 years old today. How gay is this post?
Feinstein is an anthropologist & archivist for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. The Library of Congress elected him to the National Sound Recording Advisory Board, an organization dedicated to safeguarding America’s musical heritage.
Feinstein was born to Jewish/American parents in Columbus, Ohio. At the age of 5, he studied piano for a couple of months until his teacher became angered that he wasn't reading the sheet music she gave him, he was more comfortable playing by ear. His mother saw no problem with her son's method, she took him out of lessons & allowed him to enjoy music his own way.
After graduating from high school, he worked in local piano bars, moving to LA when he was 20. Through the widow of legendary concert pianist-actor Oscar Levant (who deserves to be rediscovered), he was introduced to Ira Gershwin, who hired him to catalogue his extensive collection of phonograph records.
The assignment led to a 6 year musical excavation of Gershwin's home in Beverly Hills, preserving the legacy of Ira & his composer brother George, who had died 4 decades earlier. Feinstein's extended stay at the Gershwin’s’ enabled him to get to know next door neighbor Rosemary Clooney, who said come-ona-my- house. Clooney & Feinstein enjoyed an intensely close friendship lasting until Clooney's death. He later would serve as musical consultant for My One and Only, a Broadway musical made up from different of Gershwin tunes.
Liza Minnelli helped sponsor his 1986 New York City debut, & his Broadway show- Isn't It Romantic, was a critical & commercial success. 3 years later, he recorded his first CD- The MGM Album, a collection of tunes from some of the studio's most popular movie musicals. He followed this with Live at the Algonquin & compilations of songs by Burton Lane, Jule Styne, and Jerry Herman.
Feinstein has spent his entire adult life chronicling, cataloguing, chronicling, conserving, championing, & recording the work of various composers: the Gershwins , Hugh Martin, Jimmy Webb, Jay Livingston, Ray Evans, & Johnny Mercer.
Feinstein is the owner of the Manhattan nightclub- Feinstein's at the Regency, a showcase for cabaret performers. he recently completed a 6-part Warner Home Video series for television that depicts the history of the American popular song up to 1960.
I appreciate his talents a great deal. My mother, who knows a thing or 2 about music, has stated that our singing sounds similar. I should be so talented. Well, actually our singing is similar, I'm just not one to toot my own horn. Feinstein turns 55 years old today. How gay is this post?
