Joe Negri, the jazz musician best known for his role as the popular musical handyman on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” has died. He was 99 years old.
Negri’s eldest daughter, Lisa Negri, said her father died of natural causes on Saturday, Trib Live reported.
There are only a few days left until his 100th birthday on June 10th.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mr. Negri, a Pittsburgh native born in 1926, was given a ukulele by his father at the age of 3 and has been active as a musician since childhood.
He then started playing guitar at the age of 8, and by the age of 16 he was already touring the United States with a swing band, the newspaper reported.
Over the next few years, Negri appeared on local radio shows and performed in clubs for dancers such as Fred and Gene Kelly, before branching out to other instruments and playing to larger audiences, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
However, it was his role as “Handyman Negri” in “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” that made him famous. A lifelong musician, he appeared on the show’s entire 31-season run from 1968 to 2001, according to the show’s website.
“A handyman doesn’t just fix things; he also solves problems. I hope the kids see me as someone they can trust,” he said of his personality.
Before accepting this iconic role, Negri almost passed on the role, but later recalled in an interview that it was Fred Rogers (who passed away in 2003) who originally convinced him to appear on the show.
“I got a call and they said, ‘Hey Joe, would you like to be a handyman on my new show?'” Negri told WQED in 2018.
“I said, ‘Oh, Fred, you’re kidding! I’m not a handyman at all! I don’t even know how to drive a nail straight!’ He said, ‘Don’t worry about anything, it’s just pretend.’ It was cheating, but it was great and it lasted for 35 years! ”
Over the course of the show, Negri’s character took on a larger role, running “Negri’s Music Store” and performing with legends such as Wynton Marsalis, Johnny Costa, and Yo-Yo Ma.
“I’m glad he gave me the music store because it gave me a really good opportunity to utilize my music,” Negri told KDKA-TV.
Beyond “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” Negri was a beloved jazz guitar teacher for more than 50 years at the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, and Carnegie Mellon University.
She retired from teaching in 2019 and received the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts from the State of Pennsylvania for her contributions to the community.
“It was a wonderful life,” Negri told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“I really enjoy teaching and am very proud to be one of the first to introduce jazz guitar to schools.”
