Harry Belafonte has died on the age of 96.
The singer/actor handed away at his Manhattan residence on Tuesday resulting from congestive coronary heart failure, his longtime spokesman Ken Sunshine instructed The New York Instances.
Born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. in Harlem, New York to Caribbean-born mother and father, Belafonte turned an enormous star within the Nineteen Fifties. He helped popularise calypso music, regardless that he later carried out in lots of different genres comparable to folks, blues and American requirements.
The musician was maybe greatest recognized for songs together with Day-O (The Banana Boat Tune), Bounce within the Line and Jamaica Farewell, whereas his breakthrough 1956 album Calypso is believed to be the primary album by a single artist to promote greater than 1,000,000 copies.
Along with his music profession, Belafonte additionally turned an actor, showing in movies comparable to Carmen Jones, Island within the Solar, Odds In opposition to Tomorrow, and 2018’s BlacKkKlansman – which marked his remaining function.
The barrier-breaking legend was additionally a distinguished civil rights activist and a pal and supporter of Martin Luther King Jr.
Belafonte acquired many honours over the course of his profession, together with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000, a Kennedy Heart Honor in 1989 and the Nationwide Medal of Arts in 1994. He was introduced with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences in 2014 in recognition of his civil rights activism.
The icon was married to Marguerite Byrd between 1948 and 1957, Julie Robinson from 1957 to 2004, and Pamela Frank from 2008.
Belafonte is survived by his spouse Pamela, 4 kids, two stepchildren, and eight grandchildren.
