Harry Belafonte, a famous pop singer and civil rights activist, passed away at the age of 96 on Tuesday due to congestive heart failure at his Manhattan home, with his wife Pamela by his side. He became one of the most successful African-American pop stars in history, but his greatest achievements were as a campaigner for black civil rights in the US. He popularized calypso music among international audiences, earning the nickname ‘King of Calypso’ after his breakthrough album Calypso, which became the first million-selling album by a single artist.
Belafonte was born in Harlem, New York, in 1927 as the son of poor Caribbean immigrants. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he pursued his dream of becoming an actor and attended Erwin Piscstor’s famed Dramatic Workshop to study drama. To pay for classes, he sang at New York clubs, where he was backed by groups that included Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. That led to a recording contract, and he began studying folk songs at the US Library of Congress, discovering the calypso music his parents had grown up with.
The handsome young star sparked a fad for the genre with songs like Jamaica Farewell and Day-O (a song about Caribbean dock workers), both of which featured on his third album, Calypso. Released in 1956, it topped the Billboard charts, making him the first black person allowed to perform in many upmarket US venues – including some that had been off-limits to artists like Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.
Belafonte was a close friend of Martin Luther King and a notable supporter of the civil rights movement. He bankrolled several anti-segregation organizations and was known to have bailed Dr King and other activists out of jail. He was one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington and also part of the Selma to Montgomery in 1965.
He also campaigned against poverty, apartheid, and AIDS in Africa and became an ambassador for UNICEF. He won three Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, a Tony Award, and the Kennedy Center Honors. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1994 and received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy’s 6th Annual Governors Awards in 2014. In 2022, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Early Influence category.
Belafonte was married three times and had two daughters, Adrienne and Shari Belafonte, with his first wife, Marguerite Byrd. He divorced his wife in 1953 and then had an affair with actress Joan Collins during the filming of Island in the Sun. He married his second wife, Julie Robinson, in 1957 and divorced her in 2008. His third marriage was with the photographer Pamela Frank. His net worth was estimated to be around $30 million.
He was a legendary figure in music and activism, who used his fame and influence to fight for civil rights and social justice. His contributions to music and society will not be forgotten.
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