Harry Belafonte used his time on this earth to produce amazing tunes and fight for what was right. He was a calypso music icon, one with seven Top 10 albums in the US (and 15 Top 40 albums). He produced countless major hits that are still loved today, from the US No. 12 hit “Mary’s Boy Child” to the No. 5 staple “Banana Boat Song”. And outside of music, Belafonte was a close friend of Martin Luther King Jr. and a strong and open supporter of the civil rights movement.
Belafonte’s contributions to music history and civil rights history won’t soon be forgotten. And, sadly, on this very day, April 25, 2023, Harry Belafonte passed away at the age of 96 in his hometown of New York City. Let’s celebrate his legacy by looking back at his storied career, shall we?
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The Life and Legacy of Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte was born on March 1, 1927, in New York City to Jamaican-born parents. He lived with his grandmother in Jamaica for a number of years in his youth. Originally, in the 1940s, Belafonte was more focused on acting and theater. To pay for his acting classes, Belafonte performed as a club singer in the early 1950s.
After making it big in the musical Carmen Jones, Belafonte experienced his musical breakthrough with his third studio album, Calypso, in 1956. At the time, that record was the first to sell over one million copies within a year. He would be dubbed the King of Calypso by critics and fans alike.
In the 1960s, Belafonte produced music outside of calypso, including pop, gospel, blues, folk, and beyond. When the British Invasion took over the charts, Belafonte’s success began to waver. His last hit was “A Strange Song” from 1967. He spent a good chunk of that decade on television, hosting specials with Julie Andrews and guest-hosting The Tonight Show. He would continue his involvement in theater and acting for much of his remaining life.
On top of his career in entertainment, Belafonte was also heavily involved in the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. He has been hailed for being one of the first pop stars to connect politics with pop culture. He was also a known confidant of Martin Luther King Jr.
Harry Belafonte passed away on April 25, 2023, in New York City, from congestive heart failure at the age of 96. What a rich life well-lived!
Photo by Archive Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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