Peter Cincotti (born July 11, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter. He began playing piano at the age of three. While in high school, he regularly performed in clubs throughout Manhattan. In 2003, Cincotti's debut album, produced by

Phil Ramone Philip Rabinowitz (January 5, 1934March 30, 2013), better known as Phil Ramone, was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, and co-founder of A & R recording studio. Its success led to expansion ...

, reached No. 1 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' jazz chart, making Cincotti the youngest musician to do so. This led to performances at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...

L'Olympia The Olympia (; commonly known as L'Olympia or in the English-speaking world as Olympia Hall) is a concert venue in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France, located at 28 Boulevard des Capucines, equally distancing Madeleine church and Opéra ...

Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts European classical music, classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by ...

, and the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annu ...

where he won an award in the piano competition. Cincotti's style blends pop, rock, blues, and jazz.

Life and career

Cincotti was born in New York City. His father is of Italian descent, from Cervinara, a small town in province of

Avellino Avellino () is a city and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

where he is an honorary citizen. His mother is Jewish. Cincotti started playing a toy piano at the age of three. While in high school, he regularly performed at clubs throughout Manhattan and performed at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

. He graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 2005. At the 2000

, he won an award for a rendition of

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

's ''

A Night in Tunisia "A Night in Tunisia" is a musical composition written by American trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie in 1942. He wrote it while he was playing with the Benny Carter band. It has become a jazz standard. It is also known as "Interlude", and with lyrics by R ...

''. His 2003

self-titled An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

debut album is a compilation of traditional jazz songs, originals, and covers of classic songs ranging from the

Rainbow Connection "Rainbow Connection" is a song from the 1979 film '' The Muppet Movie'', with music and lyrics written by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher. The song was performed by Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog during the film's opening number, where it o ...

to Blood, Sweat and Tears's

Spinning Wheel A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from fibres. It was fundamental to the textile industry prior to the Industrial Revolution. It laid the foundations for later machinery such as the spinning jenny and spinning frame, ...

. His second album, '' On the Moon'', featured more of the artist's own songs as well and new arrangements of American standards. Combining elements of pop, jazz, funk and, rock, his third studio album, '' East of Angel Town'', features all original works and was released in 2007 in Europe and in January 2009 in the United States. This project began when Cincotti joined record producer

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...

(who signed him to a contract with 143 Records), producer

Humberto Gatica Humberto Gatica is a Chilean and American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with Celine Dion, Chicago, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, Cher and Michael Bublé. Gatic ...

, and producer Jochem van der Saag. He toured around the world, promoting the album with his single "Goodbye Philadelphia" and later joined

Seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

on tour in the U.S. In 2008, he collaborated with French DJ

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...

and they appeared on the finale of ''

Star Academy ''Star Academy'' is a Dutch-developed reality television talent show format that first aired in the Netherlands as '':nl:Starmaker (televisieprogramma), Star Maker''. Format There are many versions of the show, each country having its own sl ...

'', performing '' Love Is Gone''. Combining pop, jazz, rock and dance, Cincotti created his fourth studio album, ''Metropolis'', produced by John Fields and released worldwide in the spring of 2012. In 2016, Cincotti released the EP ''Exit 105'', followed by '' Long Way from Home'' on Oct. 13 2017, Cincotti's fifth studio album which he wrote, arranged and produced. In July 2012, he and his sister Pia Cincotti wrote and produced the musical ''How Deep Is the Ocean?'' with music and lyrics by Peter Cincotti and book by Pia Cincotti. It debuted at the New York Musical Theatre Festival. In 2013 he participated in the Festival of Sanremo, singing the song ''La Felicità (The Happiness)'' with Simona Molinari. Later that year, Cincotti was named the first male ambassador for Italian luxury designer Tods and collaborated with the brand on the music video "Madeline", which was featured in the Italian edition of '' Vanity Fair'' magazine. In 2014 Cincotti wrote, arranged, and produced the soundtrack for the Italian film ''Le Leggi Del Desiderio'' (''Laws of Desire)'' directed by Silvio Muccino. Cincotti appeared in a small role in the 2004 film '' Beyond the Sea'' about

Bobby Darin Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor who performed Pop music, pop, Swing music, swing, Folk music, folk, rock and roll, and country music. Darin started ...

and contributed to the film's soundtrack. He had a small role as the piano player in the

Hayden Planetarium The Rose Center for Earth and Space is a part of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The Center's complete name is The Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space. The main entrance is located on the ...

in ''

Spider-Man 2 ''Spider-Man 2'' is a 2004 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of Spider-Man. Directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story conceived by Michael Chabon and the writing team of Alfred Gough and Miles ...

''. His song ''December Boys'' is featured in the 2007 film '' December Boys'' starring

Daniel Radcliffe Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor. Radcliffe rose to fame at age twelve for portraying the title character in the ''Harry Potter'' film series. He starred in all eight films in the series, from '' Harry Potter a ...

. He appeared as himself in Season 3 (2015) of the Netflix series ''

House of Cards A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a struc ...

'', singing a duet with President Francis Underwood (played by

Kevin Spacey Kevin Spacey Fowler (born July 26, 1959) is an American actor. Known for Kevin Spacey on screen and stage, his work on stage and screen, he List of awards and nominations received by Kevin Spacey, has received numerous accolades, including two ...

). In April 2015 he performed with Sting and

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician Dave Stewart w ...

The Old Vic The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, nonprofit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. It was established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...

Gala. He is a

Dramatists Guild of America The Dramatists Guild of America is a professional organization for playwrights, composers, and lyricists working in the U.S. theatre market. It was born in 1921 out of the Authors Guild, known then as Authors League of America, formed in 1912. M ...

musical theater fellow and part of the

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Wallichs Music Cit ...

Writing Colony at Goodspeed Musicals. In 2017, he released the music video for his single, "Made for Me" which was debuted by

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC (company), IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''Peopl ...

. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Cincotti wrote and produced a song for New York called ‘Heart Of The City’, which was featured in

Katie Couric Katherine Anne Couric ( ; born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, ''Wake Up Call''. Since 2016, she ha ...

’s ‘Get Inspired’ newsletter and TV shows such as

Good Day New York ''Good Day New York'' is a morning show airing on WNYW Fox 5 (channel 5), hosted by Rosanna Scotto and Curt Menefee. It is a Fox owned-and-operated television station in New York City, owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox C ...

. His m album ''Killer On The Keys'' was released in late 2023 and includes autobiographical originals as well as known songs honoring some of the most influential piano men and women of all time, ranging from

Scott Joplin Scott Joplin (November 24, 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Dubbed the "King of Ragtime", he composed more than 40 ragtime pieces, one ragtime ballet, and two operas. One of his first and most popular pieces, the ...

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...

. In December of 2023, Cincotti released an original Christmas song entitled 'Because It's Christmas' which reached #25 on the US AC Top 40

Billboard charts The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ' ...

and #3 on the Billboard Independent Artists Chart. Cincotti has sold out multiple residencies at the Cafe Carlyle in New York, and Town & Country magazine called him 'Already A New York Institution'. His 'Live at Cafe Carlyle' album was released in late 2024.

Discography

* '' Peter Cincotti'' (Concord, 2003) * '' On the Moon'' (Concord, 2004) * '' East of Angel Town'' (143 Records/Warner Bros., 2007) * ''

Metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...

'' (Heads Up, 2012) * '' Long Way from Home'' (Freddy Eggs, 2017) * ''Killer on the Keys'' (2023)

DVD and video

* ''Peter Cincotti: Live in New York'' (2004)

Chart history

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cincotti, Peter 1983 births American people of Italian descent Concord Records artists Horace Mann School alumni Living people Columbia College (New York) alumni Singers from New York City American male jazz pianists 21st-century American singers 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American male singers American jazz pianists Jazz musicians from New York (state)