Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte, born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. on March 1, 1927, at Lying-in Hospital in Harlem, New York City, was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist. He died on April 25, 2023. His parents, Harold George Bellanfanti Sr. and Melvine Love, were both Jamaican-born; his father worked as a chef and his mother as a housekeeper. His paternal grandfather was of Dutch-Jewish and Sephardic Jewish descent, while his maternal grandmother was Scottish Jamaican. Belafonte was raised Catholic and attended St. Charles Borromeo parochial school. He had a younger brother named Dennis.

From 1932 to 1940, Belafonte lived with a grandmother in Jamaica, where he attended Wolmer's Schools. After returning to New York City, he enrolled briefly at George Washington High School before dropping out, a difficulty later attributed in part to undiagnosed dyslexia and blindness in one eye. He subsequently served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. In the 1940s, while working as a janitor's assistant, a tenant gave him two tickets to the American Negro Theater as a gratuity, an experience that drew him to performance. He and Sidney Poitier, who were both financially struggling at the time, would share a single seat at local plays, alternating between acts after briefing each other on the story. At the end of the decade, Belafonte enrolled in acting classes at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School under German director Erwin Piscator, studying alongside Marlon Brando, Tony Curtis, Walter Matthau, Bea Arthur, and Poitier, while also performing with the American Negro Theater.

Belafonte's Broadway career spanned from 1953 to 1959. He appeared in John Murray Anderson's Almanac, a Broadway musical revue and sketch comedy show in which he performed "Mark Twain," a song he also wrote. That production earned him both a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and a Theatre World Award, both in 1954. He subsequently starred in the 1955 Broadway revue 3 for Tonight alongside Gower Champion, and also appeared in Belafonte at the Palace. He was one of the few performers to achieve EGOT status — Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony — though his Oscar was won in a non-competitive category.

Belafonte began his music career as a club singer in New York to fund his acting classes. His first public performance was backed by a band that included Charlie Parker, Max Roach, and Miles Davis. He launched his recording career as a pop singer on the Roost label in 1949 before developing a strong interest in folk music, researching material through the Library of Congress archives. Alongside guitarist Millard Thomas, he made his debut at The Village Vanguard jazz club. In 1953, he signed an exclusive recording contract with RCA Victor that lasted until 1974. His first widely released single, "Matilda," recorded on April 27, 1953, became a signature audience participation song throughout his live performances.

His 1956 album Calypso became the first LP by a single artist to sell one million copies, spending 31 weeks at number one, 58 weeks in the top ten, and 99 weeks total on the U.S. chart. The album introduced American audiences to calypso music, which originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the early 19th century, and Belafonte was subsequently dubbed the "King of Calypso," a title he accepted with reservations. The album included "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)," which reached number five on the pop chart, as well as "Jamaica Farewell," with songwriting credits on several tracks attributed to Irving Burgie. In the United Kingdom, "Banana Boat Song" peaked at number two and spent ten weeks in the top ten following its March 1957 release, while "Island in the Sun" reached number three in August, and "Mary's Boy Child" reached number one in November, remaining there for seven weeks. Belafonte was also known for recordings of "Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)" and recorded across multiple genres including blues, folk, gospel, show tunes, and American standards.

In 1959, Belafonte starred in the nationally televised special Tonight With Belafonte, which featured Odetta. He became the first Black person to win a Primetime Emmy Award, receiving it for Revlon Revue: Tonight with Belafonte in 1960. Two live albums recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1959 and 1960 achieved both critical and commercial success. He also appeared in films throughout his career, including Carmen Jones (1954), Island in the Sun (1957), Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), Buck and the Preacher (1972), and Uptown Saturday Night (1974), with his final feature film appearance in Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman (2018).

Belafonte regarded actor, singer, and activist Paul Robeson as a mentor. He was a close confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and served as the American Civil Liberties Union's celebrity ambassador for juvenile justice issues. He was also a vocal critic of the policies of the George W. Bush and first Donald Trump administrations. Among his many honors, Belafonte received three Grammy Awards including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1989, the National Medal of Arts in 1994, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy's 6th Annual Governors Awards in 2014, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Early Influence category in 2022. He was born in New York, New York.