From Young Talent Time to Liberace

Denis Walter was about 15 years old when he was introduced to musical virtuoso, Liberace, in the early 1970s.

Set to follow in the footsteps of boy wonder Jamie Redfern,Walter was the second Young Talent Time discovery destined for international greatness under the watch of Liberace.

But while Redfern went on to US television and touring with rave reviews, for Walter the outcome was another story.

“Jamie’s time was coming to an end and Liberace was touring Australia, so it was suggested by the Young Talent Time people, that he have a look at me and hear my voice. It was the novelty of the skinny, 15 year old with the big deep voice,” said Walter.

“So they set up a meeting after his concert at Festival Hall and he came to the Green Room Club on Queen’s Road. I sang 3 songs, one was Gentle on my Mind with Johnny Hawker Big Band. I think Jean was one of the others and Someplace Green.

“There were about 20 people and he listened to me sing and there was all this excitement about me going to the States.”

Things went well at first. Walter went to Adelaide where he rehearsed with Liberace and his musical director.

“He was very well-mannered and very gentleman-like,” he recalls.

“But that was about all the time I spent with him.”

While he did get to America it seems timing was not on his side, with Mr. Showmanship busy touring at the time he arrived at the InterContinental in Los Angeles. While the prospects were well-intentioned, the isolating experience was a challenge for a young Aussie teen on his own.

“It wasn’t fully organised and I was over there on other people’s money. But there was no Green Card organised and when I got there, one of his staff picked me up and I was just sitting around twiddling my thumbs and getting homesick, with no prospect of working for 6 – 9 months,” he explains.

“We were down to arrangements, there was material organised, but I got the feeling from this end it wasn’t properly followed up.

“His manager’s kids had invited me to his (manager’s) house, but that was really the only social interaction while I was sitting around on my own in LA.”

Walter never got to meet Liberace in the US, nor visit the extravagant house replicated in the HBO telemovie Behind the Candelabra (Walter has only seen snippets of the movie).

He also says Liberace was entirely professional, never witness to any of the man’s sexuality now depicted in the movie starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon.

“No, not in the slightest,” he says.

But while he has his memories, the pair never spoke again.

“It was a bit surreal because it was a chance to break internationally, but I was too young and too naïve to take it all in,” he admits.

“I never even got a photo with him!”

Fortunately Australia still had a heart for the kid with the deep voice, and Walter went on to enjoy a 40 year career in show business, performing around the country, including as a regular at Carols by Candelight, presenting WIN News for 16 years and currently fronting the Afternoons programme on 3AW where he has been since 2008.

Behind the Candelabra airs 8:30pm Sunday on Foxtel Masterpiece.

Jamie Redfern declined to be interviewed.