Mike Stein is chazzan at the Conservative Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills, CA, and is the first cantor to appear on The Voice. On his television experience, Stein said, "I was representing the Jewish people. I insisted that I would wear a yarmulke, and I talked about being Jewish a lot, in almost every interview." In his first audition he sang Romemu from the Friday night service, and added a yodel to it. "I just want to be the Mitasyahu [Jewish rapper] of country music, "Stein said with a laugh. 

Stein was first in the chorus of the Broadway rock opera "Soon" and then landed a spot in the original cast of "Jesus Christ Superstar." He met Cantor Arnold Saltzman in the 1980s and began to study with him, and eventually applied for a job as a cantor for Friday nights at Congregation B'nai Tzedek in Potomac, MD.