Liberace Biography

Liberace was the flamboyant and rhinestone-studded pianist and entertainer whose death in 1987 raised public consciousness of AIDS. A child prodigy, Liberace was only seven when he won a scholarship to the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee. As a young man he made a living playing movie theaters and burlesque clubs, then moved up to the concert circuit, where he began to mix pop and classical tunes while adding jokes, patter and elaborate showmanship. It worked: by 1949 he was playing for President Harry Truman at the White House, and in 1951 he began The Liberace Show, his own syndicated TV program. His signatures included a shiny candelabra on his piano, charmingly silly patter, and ever-more-elaborate capes, costumes and jewelry. His audience ate it up. He toured widely, starred in the 1955 movie Sincerely Yours, and eventually landed in Las Vegas, becoming one of the city’s biggest draws. Liberace’s heyday was the 1950s, but he remained a popular guest star on TV in the 1960s and 1970s, and he opened the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas in 1979, with displays including fur-trimmed robes and his mirror-tiled Rolls Royce (complete with matching mirror-tiled mechanic’s toolbox). A former chauffeur, Scott Thorson, sued Liberace in 1982, saying that they had been romantically involved and that Liberace had promised to take care of him. The case was settled out of court, but it caused a scandal and the cat was out of the bag about Liberace’s sexuality. He never publicly acknowledged being gay, but died in 1987 from pneumonia brought on by AIDS.