Shirley's career in classical, jazz, and even popular music — he released a Billboard Top 40 Hit, "Water Boy" — included turns on the world's most prestigious stages, including a performance with Duke Ellington, and playing Gershwin at the Metropolitan Opera in New York accompanied by the Alvin Ailey company. Shirley received a doctorate of music, psychology, and liturgical arts, and mastered eight languages (which he spoke fluently, naturally). As for Shirley's sprawling apartment above Carnegie Hall? That actually existed, and was where he resided until his 2013 death at age 86 after complications from heart disease.