American singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte has died aged 96.
Belafonte’s passed away at his home in Manhattan. He died of congestive heart failure said his spokesperson Ken Sunshine.
Belafonte was born in Harlem, New York in 1927. In his youth he spent eight years living with his grandmother in Jamaica, returning to America to finish high school.
After a stint in the navy, he tried to become an actor studying alongside contemporaries including Marlon Brando and Tony Curtis. But he found success first in the music industry.
He worked in New York clubs in bands that included jazz greats including Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, but when Belafonte landed a recording contract he turned to traditional music from the Caribbean, searching the US Library of Congress for traditional folk songs.
His first record was released in 1953, but his breakthrough success came in 1956 with his third album Calypso. It featured several songs that would become his signature tunes including Day-O (The Banana Boat Song), and Jamaican Farewell.
It became the first album to ever sell over a million copies, it spent 31 weeks at the top of Billboard’s charts, 58 weeks in the top 10, and was in the US charts for 99 weeks. Decades after it was first released Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) had a second wave of popularity when it featured in Tim Burton’s 1988 film Beetlejuice.
Belafonte became known as the ‘King of Calypso’ and his recording career would continue for four decades, and including 30 albums traversing through genres including blues, folk, gospel, jazz standards and show tunes.
He recorded collaborations with Nana Mouskouri, Odetta and Miriam Makeba. His 1962 album The Midnight Special featured a young harmonica player named Bob Dylan, the first time the future folk music star appeared on a recording.
After finding success as a singer, Belafonte also developed an acting career appearing in Carmen Jones (1954), Island in the Sun (1957) and Odds Against Tomorow (1959). He continued to act through the 1970s and 1980s. In 1984 he produced the hip-hop film Beat Street and worked with producer Arthur Baker to create the film’s soundtrack.
In 1995 he starred opposite John Travolta in the race-reverse drama White Man’s Burden and the following year was part of the cast of Robert Altman’s Kansas City. His final film role came in 2018 in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, where he played an elderly civil rights pioneer.
Belafonte’s work in civil rights rivaled his entertainment career. He was a close confident of Martin Luthur King Jr and donated great sums of money to civil rights campaigns in the 1960s.
In 1985 Belafonte saw the success of Bob Geldof and Midge Ure’s Band Aid project in the UK that raised millions of dollars for famine aid in Africa. He set about creating an American response to the famine in Ethiopia helping created USA for Africa, tapping Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie to write We Are the World.
Working with producer Quincy Jones, Belafonte assembled a large contingent of musicians for a late-night recording in January 1985. Many of the artist had come to the studio straight from the AMerican Music Awards. The recording sessions took several hours and extended into the early hours.
One it was completed; the chorus of singers broke into an impromptu performance of Belafonte’s breakthrough hit.
He performed at Live Aid that same year and in 1987 became a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.
In 2001 Belafonte travelled to South Africa to support a campaign against HIV/AIDS. Supporting children in Rwanda, campaigning for better children’s education in Kenya, raising awareness about prostate cancer, and fighting poverty in Norway were just a few of the campaigns he put his name and time to.
“A lot of people say to me, ‘When as an artist did you decide to become an activist?'” Belafonte said in a National Public Radio interview in 2011. “I say to them, ‘I was long an activist before I became an artist.'”
The entertainer was married several times. His marriage to Marguerite Bird lasted from 1948 until 1957. They had two daughters Adrienne and Shari Belafonte. Daughter Shari found success as a model, actress and singer.
His second marriage to dancer Julie Robinson in 1957 lasted for 47 years and produced two more children, Gina and son David. After his second divorce Belafonte married for a third time, wedding photographer Pamela Frank in 2008.
As news of Belafonte’s passing broke politicians, celebrities and humanitarians posted tributes to social media.
“Harry Belafonte was not only a great entertainer, but he was a courageous leader in the fight against racism and worker oppression. Jane and I were privileged to consider him a friend and will miss him very much.” said US senator Bernie Sanders.
“The world has lost a true giant today. Harry Belafonte was a barrier breaker who helped reshape our world through his civil rights advocacy, his music, and his acting. May he rest in peace.” said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Professor Cornell West shared his sadness at the news of Belafonte’s passing. “I am deeply sad at the loss of my very dear brother – the great Harry Belafonte! His artistic genius, moral courage & loving soul shall live forever! God bless his precious family!” the professor posted to Twitter.
Mia Farrow, actor Jeffrey Wright, rappers Ice Cube and Flavor Flav, musician Bootsy Collins and Vernon Reid, rock band Garbage, and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo were also among those paying tribute to the singer.
For those of us who grew up in the 1970’s and 1980’s one of Belafonte’s most memorable performances came when he appeared on The Muppet Show in 1979.
He would later sing the same song Turn the World Around at Jim Henson’s memorial in 1990.
While Belafonte’s career often saw him bringing traditional folk songs to the masses, and interpreting other artists songs, this one is one he wrote himself.
Graeme Watson
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