Harry Belafonte, the actor, singer and civil rights trailblazer, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his New York home, with his wife Pamela by his side. He was 96.
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Belafonte is considered among the most successful Caribbean-American music stars of all time and one of the first Black leading men in Hollywood, making a name for himself during the 1950s and ’60s. An activist and social campaigner by nature, he was an early supporter of the Civil Rights movement and became a major figure in the American social and political history of the 20th century.
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He was a confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and backed many historic political and social causes and events, including the anti-apartheid movement, equal rights for women, juvenile justice, climate change and the decolonization of Africa. He was one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington, leading a delegation of Hollywood including best friend Sidney Poitier, as well as Paul Newman, Sammy Davis Jr, Marlon Brando, Rita Moreno, Tony Curtis and many others.
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Belafonte starred in several movies, including Bright Road, Carmen Jones, Buck and the Preacher and Uptown Saturday Night, the latter two appearing opposite Poitier. He also produced films such as Beat Street and later in his career appeared in movies including White Man’s Burden, Kansas City and Bobby.
He was known as one of the first black producers in television, winning an Emmy for his CBS production Tonight with Belafonte. He also earned four of Emmy noms during his career.
Born on March 1, 1927, in Harlem, he was later sent by his mother to her island of birth, Jamaica. When World War II broke out, he returned to New York and later enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He was honorably discharged and again returned to New York, where he worked several jobs before finding himself drawn to the Dramatic Workshop of the New School of Social Research under the tutelage of renowned German director Erwin Piscator, where he was classmates with the likes of Brando, Curtis and Walter Matthau.
Belafonte went on to become a music star, with his 1954 debut album Mark Twain and Other Folk Favorites reaching No. 3 on the Billboard 200. His next two LPs, both released in 1956, would top that chart: Belafonte sat at No. 1 for six weeks, and Calypso would spend a then-record 31 weeks at the summit and was the first long-playing record to sell 1 million copies.
Belafonte featured his signature tune, “Banana Boat (Day-O),” which was based on a Jamaican folk song. It reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1957 and No. 2 in the UK. “Mary’s Boy Child,” from Calypso, topped the UK singles chart and reached No. 12 in the U.S.
In all, Belafonte scored a half-dozen gold albums in the U.S., all of which also made the Top 10. His 1962 disc The Midnight Special featured one Bob Dylan on harmonica, marking the future legend’s first officially released recording.
He earned two career Grammy Awards and nine other nominations, including at the first three Grammys in 1958, 1959 and 1960. The live sets Belafonte at Carnegie Hall (1959) and Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall (1960) were up for Album of the Year, and he won Best Folk Performance for “Swing Dat Hammer” in 1960 and Best Folk Recording for An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba in 1965.
Belafonte was also instrumental in bringing African music stars such as Hugh Maskela and Miriam Makeba to the world.
While calypso was his signature sound, Belafonte also recorded gospel, American standards, blues and show tunes.
He and manager Ken Kragen are credited with guiding and directing the USA for Africa project, which spawned the all-star single “We Are the World” in 1985. His humanitarian work saw him advocate for the release of the imprisoned Nelson Mandela in South Africa and be appointed as a cultural advisor to the Peace Corps by President John F. Kennedy. He was also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, the second American to hold the position.
Belafonte was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year.
He is survived by his wife, daughters Shari, Adrienne and Gina and son David, and numerous grandchildren.
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