Harry Belafonte was an American singer, activist, and actor.
As arguably the most successful Caribbean-American pop star, he popularized Jamaican mento folk songs which was marketed as Trinbagonian Calypso musical style with an international audience in the 1950s.
His breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.
Belafonte was best known for his recordings of “The Banana Boat Song”, with its signature “Day-O” lyric, “Jump in the Line”, and “Jamaica Farewell”.
He recorded and performed in many genres, including blues, folk, gospel, show tunes, and American standards.
He also starred in several films, including Carmen Jones (1954), Island in the Sun (1957), and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).
Belafonte considered the actor, singer and activist Paul Robeson a mentor, and he was a close confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
Belafonte 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. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1994.
In 2014, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academy’s 6th Annual Governors Awards, and in 2022 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Early Influence category and was the oldest living person to have received the honor.
On April 25, 2023, Belafonte died from congestive heart failure at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, at the age of 96.
Julie Robinson Children: Meet Adrienne, Shari, David and Gina Belafonte
Harry Belafonte had four children, named Adrienne, Shari, David and Gina Belafonte.
Harry has two daughters from his first marriage to Marguerite Byrd: Adrienne and Shari Belafonte.
Adrienne and her daughter Rachel Blue founded the Anir Foundation / Experience, which helps people in southern Africa.
He then has two children, David and Gina, from his marriage to Julie Robinson.
Harry Belafonte’s only son, David Belafonte, has worked closely with him, producing much of his latter works and becoming the executive director of Belafonte Enterprises Inc. Malena, David’s wife, even worked with Harry on one of his tours!
source:nsemwokrom.com
