Liberace

Wladziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987), better known by the stage name Liberace (and known to his friends as Lee), was a charismatic American entertainer.

Trivia

• Liberace is widely credited with helping singer Barbra Streisand's early career.
• He appeared on the cover of TV Guide five times.
• He achieved a boyhood dream of playing at Carnegie Hall in 1953.
• His devotion to his mother was widely publicized.
• In 1953 Liberace was named by Ripley's Believe It Or Not as "The Fastest Piano Player In The World" for playing 6,000 notes in 2 minutes (musical quality seems not to have been an issue).
• He was the first perfomer to demand and receive US$50,000 per week to play in Las Vegas.
• During the 1960s he briefly owned and promoted an interior decorating shop in Hollywood.
• He appeared onstage in hotpants for the first time in 1971 (the costume was red, white and blue with cowboy fringe).
• After his death from AIDS Liberace's extravagent house in Las Vegas, which he had purchased for $3,000,000, was offered for sale by his estate but no buyers came forward. The house was eventually sold for $325,000 at a public auction and converted into a banquet and reception center.