American musician and entertainer known for his music, his trademark candelabra, his flamboyant lifestyle and highly affected mannerisms. Gay and over-the-top, he was well-liked by people who worked with him; they found him considerate and unpretentious. He was an early television performer who was considered TV’s first “matinee idol,” winning two Emmys, six gold albums, two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and a listing in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s highest paid musician and pianist, once earning more than $2 million for a 26-week season. Liberace’s style earned him the title of “Mr. Showmanship.”
Liberace was born Wladziu (Polish for Walter) Valentino Liberace, one of four children of a family where music was the heart. His Italian father was a classically trained musician and a member of the Milwaukee Philharmonic, playing the French horn: later, he never cared for his son’s popular music. His beloved Polish mother (who died in 1980) played the piano and his brothers and sister were also talented. He started playing the piano by ear at the age of four, received lessons at seven. Liberace’s talent was evident early on, and when the renowned Polish pianist Ignace Paderewski visited the family, he recommended him to receive a scholarship to the Wisconsin College of Music.
Liberace attended West Milwaukee High School where he played with his first band, “The Mixers.” He was a soloist with the Milwaukee Symphony at age 13, and at age 16 with the Chicago Symphony. He alternated between the classical music he loved with the jazz and popular music that also exerted a pull on him. While playing with symphonies, he was also performing in Milwaukee’s honky-tonks. He used two names to keep his musical personalities separate: He was Walter Liberace when he played with the Milwaukee Symphony, but Walter Busterkeys when he played in dance bands.
He moved to New York in 1940, and began to play in clubs around the city. The night club bookings took him to the Persian Room in the New York Plaza Hotel as an intermission pianist. Seven years later, he returned to the Persian room, this time with an oversized grand piano and the first appearance of his trademark candelabra, inspired by the 1945 movie, “A Song to Remember.” He had also followed Paderewski’s advice and changed his name to simply “Liberace.” In 1948, he was hired to perform at the Last Frontier in Las Vegas, one of two hotels there at the time.
In 1950, he made his film debut as a honky-tonk pianist in “South Sea Sinner” with Shelley Winters. Then, while playing at a club in San Diego, a television producer discovered him and a television show was created as a summer replacement for the Dinah Shore show. The 15-minute weekly show appeared in 1952 at NBC and managed to get a large national audience. The next year, he filmed a weekly half-hour show that ran for five years and made his name a household world, earning him two Emmys.
He became famous for gaudier and gaudier clothes – some of his performance costumes weighed as much as 300 pounds – and jewels that he made fun of openly. Audiences enjoyed hearing about his five houses, the swimming pool shaped like a piano, ornate automobiles, and exotic dogs and paintings.
Liberace played a number of live engagements between 1953 and 1955, and in the latter year opened in Las Vegas as the highest paid entertainer in the city’s history. He also made another movie, “Sincerely Yours.” In 1960, Liberace went to daytime television, with an ABC series. In 1978, he had his first American TV special for CBS, and a second one in February 1979.
He was acclaimed “Pop Keyboard Artist of the Year” for three years (1976-1979) by Contemporary Keyboard Magazine. In 1980, he was named both Star of the Year and Entertainer of the Year in Las Vegas, and won the “Golden Mike” award in 1981 from the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters. In 1982, he was voted to the Keyboard Magazine Hall of Fame by its readers, and that same year he had a showcase appearance at the Academy Awards, performing all five nominated films.
Even in the mid-’80s, Liberace was breaking records, such as his 1984 engagement at Radio City Music Hall which broke sales and attendance records of the 51-year-old institution. In April 1985, he returned to Radio City Music Hall to break his own record by grossing more than $2 million. His final performances there were in the fall of 1986.
Liberace also authored several books, including a cookbook, his biography, “Liberace,” and “The Things I Love,” followed by “The Wonderful Private World of Liberace,” published in 1986. He had founded the non-profit Liberace Foundation for the Performing and Creative Arts in 1977, which funds scholarships for schools and colleges across the nation. He considered this one of his greatest achievements. On 15 April 1979, he opened the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas, which serves as the funding arm for the Foundation.
Liberace never married, and it is said that his homosexuality was one of the worst-kept secrets in show business. In 1959, he had won a libel suit against a London columnist who had hinted at his sexual preference. In 1982, Scott Thorson, a former companion, filed a $113 million palimony suit against Liberace. Thorson said that Liberace had promised him $70,000 income for life, among other things. Eventually, there was a $95,000 out-of-court-settlement of the breach-of-contract suit.
A chain smoker, Liberace suffered from advanced emphysema and heart disease, along with AIDS. His weight loss became noticeable in the mid ’80s. His final performances were at Radio City Music Hall from 16 October 1986 through 2 November 1986. He followed that up with a tour to promote his fourth book, then returned to his Palm Springs, California home where he died from pneumonia as a complication from AIDS at 2:05 PM on 4 February 1987.
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