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By far the most famous, and infamous, piano player that ever lived was the flamboyant Liberace. This King of Pianos came from a humble background to be behind a tremendous wealth and fortune. From this youth to his old age, Liberace kept an air of grace, exuberance, and sophistication about him wherever he went. 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. A family friend visited the Liberace home and offered young Walter a scholarship to the College of Music in Wisconsin. Liberace happily accepted the scholarship and went on to study at the collage as well as privately with Florence Bettray Kelly, once considered a protégé of the legendary Moritz Rosenthal. At the tender age of 14, Liberace completed his classical training and made his solo debut 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 play pianos before the world, including at the 1982 Academy Awards where the flamboyant pianist performed the nominated songs flawlessly. He also traveled tirelessly, continuing to bring in the 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.
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