Pop/jazz pianist and singer Peter Cincotti was born in the Park Avenue apartment of his parents. He displayed a talent for music after being given a toy piano by his grandmother at age three, and when he was four he began taking piano lessons. At seven, he attracted the attention of Harry Connick, Jr., who had him sit in at a show at ~Bally's Grand in Atlantic City, NJ. He studied classical piano at the Manhattan School of Music and studied jazz piano privately with Ellis Marsalis, among other teachers. At 12, he turned professional and began playing in clubs in New York. He began singing to his own accompaniment in 1999. That summer, he toured with Connick Jr. In 2000, he appeared at ~the Montreux Jazz Festival, winning a prize in a piano competition. In 2001, he performed in the off-Broadway production of +Our Sinatra.