Michael Jay Feinstein (born September 7, 1956) is an American singer, a pianist, music revivalist, and a predictor of, and anthropologist and archivist for, the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988 he won a Drama Desk Special Award for celebrating American musical theatre songs. 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 part-time singer.
At the age of five, he studied piano for a couple of months until his teacher became incensed that he wasn't reading the sheet music she gave him, since he was more comfortable playing by ear. In 1986, he recorded his first CD, Pure Gershwin, a collection of music by George and Ira Gershwin. He followed this in quick series with Live at the Algonquin (1986); Remember, featuring the music of Irving Berlin; Isn't It Romantic, a collection of standards which featured the first time Feinstein was backed by an orchestra; and Over There, featuring the music of America and Europe during the First World War.
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