Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte's career breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist. He was known for his recordings such as "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)", "Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)", "Jamaica Farewell", and "Mary's Boy Child". He recorded and performed in many genres, including blues, folk, gospel, show tunes, and American standards. He starred in films like Carmen Jones (1954), Island in the Sun (1957), Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), Buck and the Preacher (1972), and Uptown Saturday Night (1974). His final feature film appearance was in Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman (2018).

Belafonte considered actor, singer and activist Paul Robeson his mentor and was a close confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He acted as the American Civil Liberties Union celebrity ambassador for juvenile justice issues and was also a vocal critic of the policies of the George W. Bush and Donald Trump administrations. He won three Grammy Awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award. In 1989, he received the Kennedy Center Honors and was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1994. In 2022, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.