Beloved singer, actor, and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte has died at the age of 96. According to TMZ, Belafonte’s representative, Ken Sunshine, stated the star died of congestive heart failure at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Tuesday. Harry Belafonte rose to fame in the 1950s during a time when it was hard for a Black entertainer to make it big in Hollywood. However, Belafonte’s unique brand of music crossed racial barriers with hits like “Day-O” and “Jamaica Farewell” from his Calypso album. In fact, Calypso dominated the Billboard charts in 1956, where it reigned supreme for 31 straight weeks.
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Harry Belafonte was the son of West Indian immigrants, and he soon transitioned from only singing to also dabbling in acting. Just like his music career, his acting took off as well, appearing in films like Carmen Jones, Island in the Sun, and Odds Against Tomorrow. He also starred alongside his good friend Sidney Poitier in the cult classic Uptown Saturday Night and Buck and the Preacher. Ultimately, Harry Belafonte moved on from music and acting to make the civil rights movement his primary focus. He was a supporter of the late Reverand Dr. Martin Luther King and helped start the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and was a fundraiser for King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
He helped get the ball rolling on the iconic “We Are the World” charity record, which included top musicians of 1985 like Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Diana Ross, Quincy Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner, and Bruce Springsteen. During the record, the collection of talent on hand even broke into a rendition of Belafonte’s “Day-O.”
BET.com spoke to Harry Belafonte in January 2022, where he discussed a myriad of topics, including the current civil rights movement. “As a singer and an activist, I found this to be true: You can cage the singer, but you cannot cage the song. This is a very potent philosophy. The impact of art is irreversible, and I think it’s the same when young people learn their true history,” he said about young people using social media to teach Black history lessons. “You can ban the lesson plan — and across the country, we see that they are doing just that — but you can’t stop the impact of that knowledge from taking root in the minds of young people. Those who are teaching Black history in ways that reach our young people and the masses are doing critically important work.”
One of Harry Belafonte’s last public appearances came when he received the National Order of the Legion of Honour, the highest award bestowed by the French government, back in December.
Photo credit via Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for HB
