Michael Feinstein

Believe in yourself, and find ways to express yourself, and find the discipline to keep growing.

Sinatra is so connected with the persona of the 'Guys and Dolls' characters even though he had great conflicts with Frank Loesser personally.

My entire career proves to me that if you believe in what you're doing, you will reap the benefits.

I started out as a pianist and singer in gay and piano bars - they were the only places I could get a job singing show tunes.

I always try to get back to the original source of the song. It's not always there in the sheet music, which is sometimes just a sketchy blueprint of what the song is about.

I just didn't like the word 'gay.' I still don't like it. It's a dumb way of describing sexuality. I like 'queer' or other words, but 'gay' is a word that had a completely different-meaning word and has been reappropriated. I just don't like it.

I think it should be illegal for people to throw away music.

I'm very mindful of trying to do something good in the world. When I see injustice in the world, it's very hard for me.

Certainly the most requested song in performance is 'Love is Here to Stay,' and that is a favorite for me.

As hackneyed and cliche as it sounds, follow your heart. We are all given intuition and instincts, and sometimes it is hard to follow those instincts with the fears and pressures that surround us - but you have to do it.

I've had a couple of times where things were so extraordinary wonderful that it changed my world. One of them was when I met Ira Gershwin and started working with him. That was a game-changer for me. It changed the entire course and direction of my life.

Sound preservation is not only the history of our culture and our country but also a document of life in the world. There is something with sound that is so extraordinary that it can be preserved, that we can listen to a recording made in 1925 and be transported back to that time.