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The Talent That Was Liberace

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.

He took the night club route and performed at some of the most famous clubs in the country like the Persian Room at the renowned Plaza Hotel in New York City. He preferred to be known by his last name only and started appearing with the gold cadelbra which ultimately became his trademark. Another seven years later he was playing his infamous piano having already returned a star.

Liberace became a part of Hollywood in the 1950s and started being a part of movie production. He was later offered a part in a television series and won two Emmy awards for his efforts. It proved to be a big hit all over the world both on television and radio. His television engagements however did not prevent him from performing and he gave house full performances in Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Liberace became a common picture dragging pianos all over the world, and playing capacity crowds in Europe and Australia. At this point of time, he started writing his autobiography and his famous cookbook, "Liberace Cooks". Liberace was a philanthropic to the core; he created the Liberace Foundation that supports the Performing and Creative Arts through scholarship programs. He won the Contemporary Keyboard Magazine "Pop Keyboard Artist of the Year" awards three times consecutively. He also started his own Las Vegas museum.

In the 1980s, Liberace continued to enthrall audiences all over the world. He played the nominated songs flawlessly at the 1982 Academy Awards. He also traveled tirelessly, bringing fans at venues like Radio City Music Hall.

He left this world on his heavenly abode just before his 68th birthday. No one has since played his rhinestone encrusted pianos. The world awaits some one as talented as liberace, doubting whether there would be any one at all.

Article Source: http://www.article-voip.com

Emanuel Daffy is the chief editor for F pianos, the web's premier resource for information about pianos, For questions or comments about this article visit: www.azpianos.com/articles

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