Following Clooney, Cook, and Wilson through the ups and downs of the 1993-94 performing season, Deborah Grace Winer brings to life the world of nightclub singing in the 1990s: the rebirth of the cabaret form, the reasons why it is still an impossible way to earn a living, and the magic that makes people keep trying.

The Night and the Music flashes back in time to recount the dramatic careers of these three legendary artists - success at an early age followed by mental and physical breakdown or family tragedy, then at last a hard-won measure of serenity.

Intercut with these narratives is a sharply etched survey of the current scene, including prominent younger singers on the cabaret circuit - Karen Akers, Ann Hampton Callaway, Mary Cleere Haran, and Andrea Marcovicci; key figures in the pop revival like Linda Ronstadt and Michael Feinstein; and the others who make it happen, the musicians, the club owners, the promoters and media figures.