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Liberace: the King of Pianos

By: Emanuel Daffy

Colorful Liberace is believed to be the most renowned and notorious piano player of all times. He rose from a very modest background to amass riches and came to be known as the king of pianos. He exhibited remarkable elegance, enthusiasm and style throughout his life.

Long before he ever played any of his famous mirrored or jewel encrusted pianos, Liberace was born to an Italian father and a Polish mother in West Allis, Wisconsin. The family was quite musically talented, with his father, Salvatore Liberace playing the French horn in the Milwaukee Philharmonic, his mother, Frances Liberace playing the piano, and two of three siblings also showing musical prowess. As a child, Walter Valentino Liberace, would often watch and listen to his parents playing their instruments of choice, but falling in love with pianos.

He was offered a scholarship to the College of Music in Wisconsin by a family friend who visited their home and was impressed by his sheer talent. Liberlace grabbed the offer and studied at the college. He also received private tutions from Florence Bettray Kelly, who was known as the protege of celebrated Moritz Rosenthal. He finished his classical training at an early age of fourteen years and went on to give his solo debut performance at the Chicago Symphony.

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.

He performed to full houses in Australia and Europe, touring all over the world in the 1960s and 1970s. He also started work on his autobiography and his now famous cookbook "Liberace Cooks". He always worked for charitable causes and set up the Liberace Foundation to provide scholarships for talented individuals in Performing and Creative Arts. He got Contemporary Keyboard Magazine's "Pop Keyboard Artist of the Year" award for three consecutive years and also set up 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?

Article Source: Main Articles

Emanuel Daffy is the owner and operator of F pianos, the web's premier resource for information about pianos, For more articles on pianos visit: www.azpianos.com/articles
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