The Talent That Was Liberace

Liberace, the king of pianos, was the most famous, and infamous, piano player that world has seen so far. This flamboyant King of Pianos actually came from a humble background, which is so unlike his usual air of grace, elegance and sophistication. He came upon a tremendous wealth and fortune because of his talent and passion.

Liberace was born in West Allis, Wisconsin. His father, Salvatore Liberace was an Italian who played the French horn in the Milwaukee Philharmonic and his mother Frances Liberace was a Polish who played the piano. Two of his siblings also showed musical prowess. Thus, the whole family was quite musically talented. As a child, Walter Valentino Liberace used to watch and listen to his parents playing their instruments of choice, but he fell in love with pianos. All this was long before he played his famous mirrored or jewel encrusted pianos.

It all started with the visit of a family friend who offered Walter a scholarship to the College of Music in Wisconsin. Liberace happily accepted the scholarship and went on to study at the college as well as privately with Florence Kelly, a protége of the famous Moritz Rosenthal. Liberace completed his classical training and made his solo debut at the Chicago Symphony when he was just 14.

Making the night club routes, Liberace began playing pianos at some of the famous clubs in the country, including the Persian Room at the prestigious Plaza Hotel in New York City. At this point, he began using his last name only and appeared with the gold candelabra that would later become his trademark. A mere seven years after he played in the Persian Room, Liberace returned a star and brought along one of his infamous pianos with him.

In the 1950s Liberace began making movies in Hollywood, and soon he was sought out for a television series. He won two Emmy awards for it and the show was a hit. It was broadcast all over the world on both television and radio transmissions. In the midst of all his television commitment, Liberace continued touring and playing sold out performances in Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden.

The 1960s and 1970s saw Liberace dragging pianos all over the world, as he played capacity crowds in Europe and Australia. Also during this time, he began penning his autobiography and his famous cookbook, “Liberace Cooks.” Always philanthropic, Liberace created the Liberace Foundation that supports the Performing and Creative Arts through scholarship programs. The ever-busy piano player took home three consecutive Contemporary Keyboard Magazine “Pop Keyboard Artist of the Year” awards in addition to starting his own Las Vegas museum.

He continued his musical voyage in 1980s and played all the nominated songs perfectly at the 1982 Academy Awards. He worked tirelessly and kept drawing fans to different venues including Radio City Music Hall.

Shortly before his 68th birthday, the King of Pianos passed away in the comfort of his Palm Springs home. No one has yet to fill his shoes or sit at his rhinestone encrusted pianos since his passing and the world wonders will there ever be another Liberace?

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Emanuel Daffy is the chief editor for F pianos, a fantastic resource for information about pianos. For questions or comments about this article why not visit: www.azpianos.com/articles
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