Q:Facts: - birth name: john d. costa - yearsactive: 1955 -- 1996 - death date: 11 october 1996 - spouse: helen costa -lrb- 1941-1996 -rrb- - children: debbie elwood ; john jr. - birth date: 17 january 1922 - death place: pittsburgh , pennsylvania , united states - birth place: arnold , pennsylvania , united states - occupation: jazz pianist Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of johnny costa .
A:
johnny costa -lrb- january 17 , 1922 -- october 11 , 1996 -rrb- was an american jazz pianist born in arnold , pennsylvania .given the title '' the white tatum '' by jazz legend art tatum , costa is best known for his work as musical director of the children 's television program '' mister rogers ' neighborhood . ''costa learned to play accordion at age 7 and was reading music three years later .frank oliver , costa 's high school music teacher , urged him to learn the piano after discovering that costa had perfect pitch .costa graduated from carnegie mellon university with two degrees , in music and in education .in case he failed as a musician , costa prepared himself to teach .following college graduation , he began work the same day as the house pianist for a radio station in pittsburgh .eventually he performed the same role for kdka-tv in pittsburgh .he provided piano and organ music for many programs , eventually teaming with fred rogers to arrange and perform the music heard on '' mister rogers ' neighborhood '' for which he served as musical director until his death in 1996 .costa 's first recording was '' the amazing johnny costa , '' a savoy lp released in 1955 and reissued on cd as '' neighborhood '' in 1989 .although his increasingly lucrative career was beginning to bring him international attention , the amount of time away from his family and friends led him to live and perform only in western pennsylvania .he stopped traveling and gave up his job as musical director of '' the mike douglas show . ''he returned to pittsburgh and remained there for the rest of his life .costa served as musical director , arranger , and pianist for the children 's television program '' mister rogers ' neighborhood '' from the program 's debut in 1968 until his death in 1996 .the program 's creator and host , fred rogers , regarded costa as one of the most gifted musicians he had ever met .rogers ' choice was surprising because costa 's style was regarded as too complicated and sophisticated for a...