Background: Sergio Santos Mendes (Portuguese pronunciation: ['seRZju 'satuZ 'medZiS]; born February 11, 1941) is a Brazilian musician. He has over 55 releases, and plays bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2012 as co-writer of the song "Real in Rio" from the animated film Rio. Mendes is married to Gracinha Leporace, who has performed with him since the early 1970s.
Context: Mendes was born in Niteroi, Brazil, the son of a physician. He attended the local conservatory with hopes of becoming a classical pianist. As his interest in jazz grew, he started playing in nightclubs in the late 1950s just as bossa nova, a jazz-inflected derivative of samba, was emerging. Mendes played with Antonio Carlos Jobim (regarded as a mentor) and many U.S. jazz musicians who toured Brazil.  Mendes formed the Sexteto Bossa Rio and recorded Dance Moderno in 1961. Touring Europe and the United States, Mendes recorded albums with Cannonball Adderley and Herbie Mann and played Carnegie Hall. Mendes moved to the U.S. in 1964 and cut two albums under the Sergio Mendes & Brasil '65 group name with Capitol Records and Atlantic Records.  Sergio became full partners with Richard Adler, a Brooklyn-born American who had previously brought Bossa Tres plus two dancers, Joe Bennett and a Brazilian partner, to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, in 1963. He was also accompanied by Jobim; Flavio Ramos, and Aloisio Olivera, a record and TV producer from Rio. The Musicians Union only allowed this group to appear on one TV show and one club appearance (Basin Street East) before ordering them to leave the U.S. When the new group, Brasil '65 was formed, Shelly Manne, Bud Shank and other West Coast musicians got Sergio and the others into the local musicians union. Adler and Mendes formed Brasil '65, which consisted of Wanda Sa and Rosinha de Valenca, as well as the Sergio Mendes Trio. The group recorded albums for Atlantic and Capitol.
Question: did he become a pianist early in his career?. Whats the answer?
he started playing in nightclubs in the late 1950s just as bossa nova, a jazz-inflected derivative of samba, was emerging.