Tuesday, April 7, 1998 | 10:33 a.m.
By the late 1970s, Las Vegas music conductor Tony Costa had accomplished just about everything he had set out to do in the field of entertainment.
He led the orchestra at the original MGM Grand hotel-casino and later when it became Bally's. There he was conductor for "Hallelujah Hollywood" and "Jubilee" before taped music put him and hundreds of local musicians out of work in the early 1980s.
Costa worked in television and in the theatre. He appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show," and was music director for ABC's "Surfside Six" from 1960-62. On Broadway, he conducted the orchestra for the shows "Gypsy" and "Carousel."
As a songwriter, Costa penned "I'll Find You a Rainbow," with his wife and longtime singing partner Jeanne Costa. Their song appears on Vic Damone's "A Damone Type of Thing" album.
Early in his career, Costa sang for the New York City Center Opera Company.
Still, Costa felt his life would not have been complete unless he conducted a classical symphony. To do that, he founded the Symphonic Association of Las Vegas and became the first conductor of the Las Vegas Philharmonic Orchestra. The 72-piece symphony performed several concerts at UNLV's Artemus Ham Hall from 1977-79.
Anthony "Tony" Costa, who trained under the batons of the legendary maestros Arturo Tuscanini and Leonard Bernstein and later worked with such stars as Jimmy Durante and Milton Berle, died Friday at his Henderson home. He was 78.
His family said the cause was cancer.
Services for the Las Vegas resident of 33 years will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Guardian Angel Cathedral, where Costa was a vocal soloist for the last decade. Visitation will be through 7 p.m. today at Palm Mortuary on Eastern Avenue. A rosary will be said at 6 p.m.
"My husband was a talented and versatile performer," Jeanne Costa said Monday.
"He even played the role of the sugar daddy in the ZZ Top video 'Viva Las Vegas.' When Tony came home from the shoot, he asked me who ZZ Top was. When our grandchildren heard about it, they thought it was the coolest thing."
Six years ago, Tony was selected to appear as a contestant on the game show "Wheel of Fortune." There he won $39,000 by guessing the word "copyright" with just three of the letters revealed. The Costas used the money to buy a new house.
In recent years, Tony Costa fulfilled one of his last show business dreams -- to appear as a song and dance man in a musical -- when he played the part of Burt in the Spring Mountain Summer Theatre production of "42nd Street."
Costa never before had danced professionally. It was all the more rewarding an experience because Jeanne also came out of retirement and made her first stage appearance in 17 years in the lead role of Dorothy.
Born March 25, 1920, in Manhattan, N.Y., Costa started taking piano lessons at age 8 and attended the famed Julliard School of Music. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in music at the Manhattan School of Music.
By the time World War II rolled around, Costa was a concert pianist. He joined the Air Force and served in the medical corps in Africa.
Costa first came to Las Vegas in 1955 to perform with a trio at the Dunes hotel-casino.
In the early 1960s, while working on "Surfside Six" starring Troy Donahue, Costa was conductor at the Hollywood Bowl.
In 1963, Costa was playing piano at a Covina, Calif., restaurant when he was teamed with singer Jeanne Shelden. They were an instant hit. Together, they toured the world as Costa and Shelden, eventually playing the Skyroom at the Desert Inn hotel-casino. They were married in 1965 at the Little Chapel of the West and moved to Las Vegas that year.
Costa often said that his heart was torn between his love for New York and his strong desire to remain in Las Vegas.
"Every once in a while I wish I was near the Met or Carnegie Hall so I could go listen to the music there," Costa said in a June 3, 1979, SUN story. "But the fact is, we really love Las Vegas. Both the climate and the work are steady."
In Las Vegas lounges, Costa & Costa performed many of the standards, including "I Wish You Love" and "More," which they called "our song."
In addition to a 17-year stint at MGM/Bally's, Costa also was vocalist director for "A Chorus Line" at the Sahara hotel-casino and conductor for Las Vegas productions of "Oklahoma," "South Pacific," "Funny Girl," "Sound of Music" and other shows.
In addition to Durante and Berle, Costa worked with such top performers as Shecky Green, Jack Jones and Connie Stevens and on several Jerry Lewis Telethons.
For the past 20 years, Costa was heavily involved with projects at UNLV, conducting the philharmonic and such shows as "Under the Gaslight" and "Nine."
Costa was a member of the Las Vegas Musicians Union Local 369 and the National Association of Teachers of Singing. He also served on the advisory board of the Spring Mountain Summer Theatre.
Costa retired in 1989. He and Jeanne have done vocal coaching work in recent years.
An avid golfer, Costa continued to play at least twice a week after being diagnosed with cancer a year ago.
In addition to his wife, Costa is survived by three sons, Douglas Costa of Pennsylvania and Michael Costa and Jim Costa, both of Las Vegas; a daughter, Peggy Bazemore of Loma Linda, Calif.; a brother, Ben Costa of Las Vegas; two sisters, Angelia Vinci and Catherine LaScala, both of Las Vegas; 12 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
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