Liberace

Outrageously camp and flamboyant, pianist Liberace was - from the 1950s to the 1970s - the world's highest paid entertainer. With his over-the-top stage presentation and gushing persona, Liberace was also one of the most controversial and litigious, taking legal action to counter suggestions that he was gay before he became one of the earliest high profile casualties of AIDS in 1987. Known as Lee to his friends and Walter to his family, he was the American son of Italian and Polish immigrants. Learning to play piano at the age of four, he was particularly influenced by the Polish pianist Ignacy Paderewski. He initially utilised his talent playing in theatres, local radio, strip clubs and weddings and played jazz with a group called The Mixers, adopting the stage name Walter Busterkeys. Naturally eccentric, he dressed in exotic fashion for every public appearance, his reputation for extreme showmanship soon matching his reputation as a great classical pianist. In 1944 he made his first appearance in Las Vegas, which became his "home from home" as he shortened his name to Liberace and, wearing ever more glittery costumes, designed an expansive stage set, including the trademark candelabra on his piano. By the mid-1950s he was earning $50,000 a week in Vegas and had over 200 fan clubs and although critics insisted the gimmicky showmanship got in the way of the music, Liberace's popularity grew and grew. Mixing classical music with jazz, showtunes and even boogie woogie, he also sang, usually closing his shows with his signature song, I'll Be Seeing You. His TV shows attracted 30 million viewers and his mostly female audience sent him 10,000 fan letters a week as he became known as Mr Showmanship. He acted, too, starring in movies like Sincerely Yours (1955) and When The Boys Meet The Girls, with Connie Francis (1956). Liberace made his last appearance in New York in 1986 before his death a year later, and was portrayed by Michael Douglas in the autobiographical movie Behind The Candelabra (2013).