Wollongong piano man Liam Cooper will bring his musical spectacular King of the Keys to The Art House in April as he raises awareness for entertainers’ mental health.
A celebration of music from the piano greats, the show includes favourites by Billy Joel, Elton John, Peter Allen, Stevie Wonder, Queen, Ray Charles and many more.
“Growing up learning the piano, I’ve always been inspired by the artists in this show – the songwriting, the stories, the sound,” Cooper said.
“It just gets me so excited and it’s a joy to bring that to the stage with some incredibly talented musicians behind me.”
Cooper has been entertaining and mesmerising audiences from a young age, performing at Southern Stars, the School Spectacular and more recently, as a headline act on cruise ships around the world.
His show King of the Keys premiered in 2018 and is now back, bigger and better than ever.
But it hasn’t been an easy journey.
In 2023, he planned a huge 25 show Australian tour but the financial pressures associated with putting on so many shows and the risk of not breaking even saw him plull the plug.
“There was a lot of shame about it,” he said.
“I was so passionate about this tour and so many people were in on the project, my band, the venues, those who had bought tickets.
“To turn around and admit that I couldn’t physically do it was really hard to do.”
That’s why Cooper is donating a portion of all ticket sales from this tour to Support Act, an Australian charity providing crisis relief, mental health and wellbeing support to musicians, managers, crew and music workers across all genres of music.
“Support Act helps people in my industry with mental health,” he said.
“If that service can help others in my position with the stress and anxiety of producing and promoting live entertainment, or musicians and theatre technicians like mine who lost work because of cancellations, I want to support that.”
Cooper is excited to share his new show, celebrating 15 artists as he performs 40 songs and the inspiring stories behind them.
In an interactive twist, each audience member will have the chance to vote for who they think is the ultimate King of the Keys and influence the final song of the night.
Cooper’s dream is to take King of the Keys to Las Vegas.
Liam Cooper’s King of the Keys will be performed at The Art House at 7.30pm on Saturday, April 13.
Bookings are available at thearthousewyong.com.au