Liberace who is he

More than a year before Liberace's death, his lover of seven years, Cary James Wyman, was also tested positive. He later died in Another lover named Chris Adler later came forward after Liberace died and claimed that he received the HIV virus from sex with Liberace. He died in Liberace kept his own illness a secret until the day he died. He did not seek any medical treatment. During the interview, he hinted that he might be sick. At first, several causes of death were publicized, but the Riverside County coroner performed an autopsy and declared that those close to Liberace conspired to hide the real cause of death.

The coroner stated it was pneumonia as a complication of AIDS. Liberace achieved his fame in a fashion unique to his own personal style. His presentation of shows as a piano-playing entertainer borrowed from classical music traditions, flamboyant circus-style shows, and the intimacy of piano bars.

Liberace maintained an unparalleled connection to his core audience. Liberace is also recognized as an icon among gay entertainers. Although he fought against being labeled as homosexual during his lifetime, his sexual orientation was widely discussed and recognized. Pop music legend Elton John has stated that Liberace was the first gay person he remembered seeing on television, and he considered Liberace to be a personal hero.

Liberace also played a key role in the development of Las Vegas as an entertainment mecca. He opened the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas in It became a key tourist attraction along with his own live shows. After 31 years, the museum closed in due to declining admissions. Classical studies, recitals, and competitions ruled 14 year-old Liberace's days. His nights belonged to ragtime and honky-tonk music, which he played at Milwaukee roadhouses and bars.

Hiding his lucrative night job from his parents, he would explain that he and his band were playing church socials. When Frances and Salvatore Liberace discovered what their underage son was really doing, they were livid.

Caught up in a police raid of a men's fraternal organization party that included stag films and a stripper, an incensed Salvatore picked up his son at the police station, chiding him that he could no longer play at such unsavory venues. Nevertheless, he relented when he saw how much money his son was making. By age 16, Liberace was the family's main breadwinner. By , Walter Liberace had gone from being a musical prodigy to a celebrity entertainer known for his pop sensibilities and flair for showmanship.

Dropping his first name, he was billed simply as Liberace. Although classical music still held a place in his performances, he mixed it with an abundance of popular music. I really longed to please the man on the street," Liberace said in an interview clip featured in a episode of Biography.

Liberace's florid style and engaging personality made the pianist perfect for television. Starring in his own syndicated program called The Liberace Show , Liberace took to the airwaves in As cited in Liberace: An American Boy , at the height of the show's popularity, it was more watched than I Love Lucy and generated 10, pieces of fan mail per week. Despite his popular acclaim, music critics savaged Liberace.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy of Liberace's life was his lifelong denial of his sexuality. As a gay man in the public eye in the midth century, Liberace had little choice but to hide his private life or lose his career and fanbase to the intolerance of the times.

Liberace's conflicted feelings came with childhood. In an era when being gay was considered a mental illness, young Liberace obsessed over his sexuality to he point of fearing he was insane. Wracked with guilt and terrified at the consequences of his family discovering his sexual orientation, a confused Liberace turned to his Catholic faith in hopes of quelling what he felt were unnatural urges.

Briefly, the musician considered entering the priesthood. Politically and religiously conservative, Liberace publicly condemned the gay lifestyle throughout much of his career while keeping his private life under a shield of secrecy.

He vehemently and repeatedly denied being gay in the press and publicly "dated" women to add plausibility to his deception. Liberace's success in the s was tainted with scandal, lawsuits, and tragedy. The entertainer had vowed to bring the tabloid down after it had printed a salacious story intimating that the famous pianist was gay.

Just hours after his appearance in a Los Angeles courtroom, Liberace's mother Frances, a guest at the star's lavish Sherman Oaks Home, ventured out with a bag of garbage to burn in a garage incinerator. Seemingly out of nowhere, two masked men jumped the year-old woman, knocking her to ground and viciously kicking her in the back.

The Los Angeles Times quoted her statement to the police — "They had black hoods with slits for their eyes. They also had some kind of covering, probably stockings, over their shoes," Frances Liberace said. There, one of them grabbed me, hit me or threw me down on the floor. One of them kicked me in the back. I heard one of them say, 'This will give him something to laugh about. As documented in Liberace: The True Story , Liberace returned to find his house swarming with police.

Despite being proud of his son's accomplishments, Salvatore strictly opposed Liberace's preference for popular music over the classics.

Pianist Florence Bettray Kelly took control of Liberace's classical training when he was He debuted as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony, under the direction of Dr. Frederick Stock. He received a scholarship to attend the Wisconsin College of Music. In , after a classical recital, Liberace's audience requested the popular tune, "Three Little Fishes".

Liberace seized the opportunity and performed the tune with a semi-classical style which the audience loved. Soon, this unique style of playing the piano got Liberace bookings in large nightclubs. By , Liberace was traveling with his custom-made piano, on top of which he would place his candelabrum. He then took Paderewski's advice and dropped Wladziu and Valentino to become simply Liberace.

He played a honky tonk pianist in the movie, which opened in In , The Liberace Show , a syndicated television program, turned Liberace into a musical symbol. It began as a summertime replacement for The Dinah Shore Show , but after two years, the show was one of the most popular on TV.

It was carried by American stations and could be seen in 20 foreign countries. Sold-out live appearances at Madison Square Garden enhanced the pianist's popularity even more. Soon, Liberace added flamboyant costumes and expensive ornaments to his already unique performances. His second movie, Sincerely Yours , opened in , and Liberace wrote his best-selling autobiography, "Liberace", in His first book, "Liberace Cooks", went into seven printings.

The profits from the museum provide scholarship money for financially needy college musicians. He continued performing until the fall of , despite suffering from heart disease and emphysema during most of the s. A closeted homosexual his entire life, Liberace was secretly diagnosed with AIDS sometime in August , which he also kept secret from the public until the day he died.

He even drove to his piano on stage in one of his many luxury automobiles. In the mids, Liberace decided to give the public a peek into his lavish lifestyle. He transformed his Hollywood home into a museum. He later displayed his collection of costumes, cars and other treasures at his own museum in Las Vegas. Once again, Liberace found himself in a legal struggle. He was sued by his former bodyguard and chauffeur Scott Thorson in Thorson claimed that he had been in a relationship with Liberace and that Liberace had promised to take care of him and support him.

The case was later settled out of court. He and his staff, however, vehemently denied that the entertainer had the disease. Liberace passed away on February 4, , at his home in Palm Springs, California. Initially, his doctor reported that the showman died of cardiac arrest. While some critics have dismissed him for being overly sentimental, Liberace has left a lasting impact on the world of entertainment.

His elaborate and sometimes garish style has influenced the likes of Presley, Elton John and David Bowie to name a few. A film celebrating Liberace's was released in , with Michael Douglas playing the legendary showman.