Doris Dayturned 97 on April 3 — and she made sure to celebrate with one of her favorite musicians.
Entertainer Michael Feinstein tells PEOPLE he was invited to share in the festivities with Day in what became their first face-to-face meeting despite a correspondence of several years.
The two hit it off and were quickly “consumed with two subjects: animals and music,” which Feinstein says were “the two most important things in her life.”
“She would say, ‘I just love animals’ — and it was so wonderful to see that her fervor for other creatures had not diminished and she was so concerned for the welfare of creatures and the welfare of the planet,” Feinstein adds.
Jackie Joseph
Day had a successful singing career as well, although Feinstein says she was “very humble and modest” about it.
“She never talked [about] or listened to her own recordings because she was so tough on herself,” says Feinstein. “For decades, she would not listen to her own work because she feared it would not be good enough and then when she did, she was sincerely surprised they were good. She was the one person who did not know what everyone else knew.”
As a special gift to Day, Feinstein sang for her at her home, regaling her with songs such as “My Romance,” which Day sang in the 1962 version of the musicalJumbo.
Feinstein also sang her version of the 1967 song “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries” as well as other hits of hers.
Doris Day and Michael Feinstein.Jackie Joseph
“She was encouraging me and snapping her fingers and nodding and swaying and kept saying, ‘more’ and ‘more,'” he recalls. “It was the most thrilling command performance I’ve ever given, and I’ve performed for presidents and royalty, but performing for her was truly thrilling.”
Day died in the early hours of Monday morning at the age of 97.
Her business manager and close friend Bob Bashara told PEOPLE Day “was fine at her birthday party.”
“For her birthday event,she was in good spirits,” Bashara said. Shortly after, Day “developed a cough and it turned into bronchitis and she was briefly hospitalized,” he continued.
“When she came home, she began to decline and was given hospice care,” he said.
source: people.com
