Liberace net worth is $115 Million. Also know about Liberace bio, salary, height, age weight, relationship and more …

Liberace Wiki Biography

Wladziu Valentino Liberace, better known as just Liberace, was one of the most famous vocalists and pianists not only in his generation, but in general. The star is considered to be one of the most flamboyant and famous performers of the 20th century.

Liberace’s net worth was estimated to be $115 million at the time of his death.

He was born on the 16th May 1919 in West Allis, Wisconsin, USA. At the very young age of seven years, Liberace started attending the Wisconsin College of Music as he was considered to be a child prodigy, and Liberace’s career started when he was a teenager. He enrolled at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and later went on to perform on his own as he chose to play only the music that was popular at the time.

The musician played with a candelabra on his piano to entertain the audience, that was stunned by his performances. He often performed under the name of Walter Busterkeys to make some money for a living while his career was only at its beginning. Although the show didn’t go national for a couple of years after it started airing in Los Angeles, the premiere of the show called The Liberace Show could easily be considered as his big breakthrough.

Later Liberace starred in a film called Sincerely Yours and performed in Las Vegas. Liberace became such a popular star that he even started performing alongside the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll Elvis Presley in 1956. At the height of his career the star was watched by nearly 35 million people. His television program was so popular that it broke almost every record on television when it came to the entertainment industry and performing arts.

Speaking about his personal life, Liberace had several legal dramas, as a magazine once printed an article stating that the star was a homosexual. Liberace tried to conceal his sexual preferences as much as he could at the time as the majority of his fans were young and single ladies who had fallen head over heels for the famous pianist. This type of admiration was very convenient for Liberace, as it helped to keep his fan base steady and to make his income even bigger. However, his chauffeur and bodyguard Scott Thorson, sued Liberace in 1982 for what turned out to be seeking support, as apparently they were once lovers and Liberace had made a promise to support Thorson.

Liberace died on the 4th February 1987, and initially there were rumors that he died because of complications that occurred due to him being infected with AIDS. It was only later that the autopsy showed that Liberace indeed died of pneumonia which was closely related to AIDS and is one of its side effects.

Liberace has definitely left his imprint of today’s entertainment, business and music industry, as he is cited as a major inspiration by such popular stars and musicians as Elton John, Lady Gaga and David Bowie.

IMDB Wikipedia $115 Million 1919 1987 5 ft 9 in (1.77 m) ABBA Academy Award Actor Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Andy Warhol Art auction Associated Press Auction Barbra Streisand California Chicago David Bowie Elton John Elvis Presley February 4 Frances Liberace George Liberace Grammy Award Herbie Hancock Lady Gaga Lee Lee Liberace Liberace Liberace Net Worth Liberace: Behind the Music Matt Damon May 16 Merry Mirthquakes Miles Davis Mr. Showmanship Orchestra Palm Springs Pianist Pierre Boulez Rick Ross Salvatore Liberace Scott Thorson Sincerely Yours Singer Singers The Glitter Man The Liberace Show (US) The Loved One United States United States of America Vładziu Walter Walter Busterkeys Walter Liberace West Allis Wisconsin Wisconsin Conservatory of Music Wladziu Valentino Liberace

Liberace Quick Info

Liberace Trademarks

1. His Baldwin piano decorated with small mirrors.
2. Candlelabra that he placed on his piano
3. Extravagant clothes

Liberace Quotes

• I’ve done my part for motion pictures. I’ve stopped making them.
• [to his manager Seymour Heller in late 1986] If my fans or the public ever found out that I’m gay or that I have AIDS… that’s all they’ll ever remember about me.
• The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.
• Of course, I couldn’t go out in the street in clothes like this, I’d get picked up. Come to think of it, it might be fun.
• Gee, you’ve been such a wonderful audience that I don’t like to take your money. But I will!
• [in 1959, he won a libel case against the London “Daily Mirror” tabloid. What did he do with his damages?] I cried all the way to the bank!
• At the 1982 Academy Awards: I made my greatest contribution to motion pictures years ago. I stopped making them.
• What’s better than roses on your piano? Tulips on your organ.
• [When asked how he could play the piano while wearing so many rings]: Very well, thank you.
• [on playing Radio City Music Hall in the Easter show]: You can have either the Resurrection or you can have Liberace. But you can’t have both.
• (Spoken on stage): I didn’t get dressed like this to go unnoticed.
• [From his 1973 autobiography]: Youthfulness, I guess, will always remain the thing that fans want to see in their favorite performers. They don’t like to see them grow old. Possibly because it reminds them that the same thing is happening to them.
• (Commenting on a famous quote of his): You know that bank I cried all the way to? I bought it!
• Too many young performers have forgotten that the most important part of show business is not the second word, it’s the first. Without the show there’s no business.
• (Responding to a negative review of one of his performances): Your review hurt me! I cried all the way to the bank!

Liberace Important Facts

• He smoked 2-3 packs of cigarettes a day.
• Is mentioned by name in Nina Simone’s rendition of “My Baby Just Cares for Me”.
• He was posthumously awarded a star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 1, 2005.
• He was posthumously awarded a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars on January 7, 1994.
• Is mentioned by name in the song “My Baby Just Cares for Me” by Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson.
• In his biography and in the HBO program Behind the Candelabra (2013), Liberace insisted that his first lover, to whom he lost his virginity, was a professional American football player, a member of the Green Bay Packers team, “the most intimidating man I’d ever seen”. According to Liberace’s ex-lover Scott Thorson, the pianist had revealed to him that the affair had taken place when Liberace was playing a club called the Wunderbar in Wausau, Wisconsin in 1939, and that the player became Liberace’s “first confidant”.
• He was a Republican.
• Brother-in-law of Isabel Liberace.
• Uncle of Rudy Liberace Jr., Freddy Liberace, Jane Liberace, Ina Liberace and Diane Liberace.
• Brother of George Liberace, Rudy Liberace and Angie Liberace.
• Made his very last public appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show: Episode dated 25 December 1986 (1986) almost six weeks before his death.
• Shortly after Liberace’s death the London Daily Mirror asked for a refund of the $24,000 libel settlement it had paid him in 1959.
• In 1982, 24-year-old Scott Thorson, Liberace’s former bodyguard, limo driver, and alleged live-in lover of five years, sued the pianist for $110 million in palimony after an acrimonious split-up. Liberace continued to publicly deny that he was homosexual and insisted that Thorson was never his lover. In 1984, most of Thorson’s claim was dismissed, although he received a $95,000 settlement.
• Mentioned in the song “Mr. Sandman” written by Pat Ballard: “And [give him] lots of wavy hair like Liberace.”.
• He was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6527 Hollywood Boulevard; and for Television at 6739 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
• While wildly successful and good natured outwardly, Liberace was a complicated man whose political, social and religious conservatism existed side-by-side with a lifetime of secretive homosexuality.
• Biography in: “The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives”. Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 533-535. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1999.
• When filming a television special in England, he made a point of learning the name of all the production crew. Years later when he returned to make another show, he was still able to greet every crew member by name.
• The phrase “I cried all the way to the bank!” was said to be first coined by him after he sued and won a $22,000 settlement from the London Daily Mirror in 1959.
• Was parodied in several Bugs Bunny cartoons.
• Would often remark that he would like the viewer/audience member to “Meet my brother George”.
• Liberace owned a 1961 Rolls-Royce Phantom V. This car resides in the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas, and of only seven built by coachbuilder James Young that year, it is the only one with left-hand drive (the steering wheel on the American side), making it even more rare. The entire car is covered with small mirrored tiles, and with classic horses etched into them along the running boards. When he first got the got, it had a black and gray paint job. He also had a 1950s Rolls-Royce convertible painted with an American flag design.
• The episodes of the television series Batman (1966) on which Liberace guest starred as Chandel/Harry, Batman: The Devil’s Fingers (1966) and Batman: The Dead Ringers (1966), were the highest-rated in the series’ history. By all accounts, he got along well with the cast and crew and would play impromptu recitals at the end of each day’s filming.
• According to his cook, his last meal was Cream of Wheat hot cereal, made with half and half, and seasoned with brown sugar.
• When he opened Las Vegas’ Riviera Casino-Hotel in 1954, he was the city’s highest paid entertainer. That concert was the first one where he wore extravagant costumes (He wore a gold llame jacket).
• License plate on one of his Rolls-Royces: “88 KEYS”
• In 1976, during the height of the American Bicentennial, he once performed wearing red, white and blue hot pants. It made headlines around the world.
• As reported in the June 2001 issue “A&E Biography” Magazine, Liberace was so vain about his baldness that he would even go to bed wearing one of his hairpieces, even on hot nights. According to the same article, he once almost refused to have a facelift when the doctor asked him to take his toupee off.
• At the insistence of Polish piano virtuoso, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, he dropped his first names and performed under his last name, only.
• While born “Wladziu Valentino Liberace”, he later changed his first name to “Walter”, but his friends and relatives knew him as “Lee”.
• Closed his concerts with the song “I’ll Be Seeing You”.
• His final performance was on November 2, 1986 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
• Owned pianos previously owned by Frédéric Chopin and George Gershwin, as well as an inlaid and ormolued Louis XV desk that may have been owned by Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
• Many of his pianos, cars, jewelry and costumes are on display in the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada, a short drive from the Las Vegas Strip. Funds from the admissions to the non-profit museum go to The Liberace Foundation for the Performing and Creative Arts, which awards music scholarships.
• Was parodied in Al Capp’s comic strip, “L’il Abner”, as “Loverboynik”.
• Successfully sued the London “Daily Mirror” in 1959 after it published an article by columnist “Cassandra” which said that Liberace was “fruit-flavoured” (gay), which he strongly denied in court and insisted that homosexuality was an “abomination”.
• Liberace’s favourite song was “The Impossible Dream”, because he truly mastered the art of believing. He made a dream come true. During his career, Liberace earned two Emmy Awards and five gold million best-selling albums.
• In the 1970s, Liberace spent at least $100,000 a year on his sparkling, brocaded, diamond and jeweled costumes.
• In 1969, Liberace was named one of the five highest paid entertainers in show business.
• As a young man, he worked the night club circuit as a pianist under the name: “Walter Busterkeys”.
• In high school, Liberace had a musical combo called “The Mixers”.
• Classical debut was at age 14 as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony.
• At age four, Liberace could play almost any tune by ear.
• His older brother, George Liberace played the violin.
• His mother, Frances Liberace, played piano as did his sister, Angie Liberace.
• Liberace’s father, Salvatore Liberace, was a French horn player for the Milwaukee Symphony.

Liberace Filmography

Liberace Awards