Palm Springs offered him reprieve from the pressure to lie. In fact, during two libel suits he brought against the media in the 1950s, he testified under oath that he wasn’t gay. For over a decade, he was the highest-paid entertainer in the world and became known for his opulence.ĭespite his flamboyance, Liberace was not public about his sexuality.
His attorney, Joel Strote, said he chose to die there because “he wanted to rest in the place he loves.” Fans gathered outside his home to hold vigil before his death.ĭuring his storied career, Liberace appeared in numerous films and TV shows and released several albums. Liberace died at his home in Palm Springs. Prior to his death, staff said he was at Eisenhower Medical Center for “the effects of a watermelon diet.” I’d like to think that by going public myself with this, I can give other people courage to face it.”ĭespite a lifetime of living out loud as an iconic, flamboyant pianist, Liberace chose to keep his AIDS diagnosis and subsequent illness private until his death in 1987. “The Black community is at the bottom of the line when it comes to getting information, even when we’ve been so hard hit by this disease. “It bothers me that AIDS is still thought of as a gay, white male disease,” Sylvester told the Los Angeles Times.
The year of his death, Sylvester was working on his third studio album, knowing that he may very well never be able to release it.Īt the time of his death, Sylvester fought to make more people realize that AIDS was very much an urgent concern for Black people in the U.S.
Sylvester left royalties from his music to the AIDS Emergency Fund and to Rita Rockett’s food program at San Francisco General Hospital’s Ward 86 for people diagnosed with AIDS. Sylvester died in 1988 from AIDS-related complications. Rich Polk via GettyImagesĭisco legend Sylvester James, known simply as Sylvester, was a legendary singer and songwriter from San Francisco known for his signature song, “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real),” and for his flamboyant appearance and falsetto singing voice. Searches stayed relatively high for about 72 hours after the announcement, as well. Of those searches, 1.25 million included words like “condoms,” “HIV testing,” and “HIV symptoms.”.