Iconic actor/producer/singer/activist Harry Belafonte, best known for his version of the traditional Jamaican calypso song “Day-O” (The Banana Boat Song), has died at the age of 96.
The Caribbean-American star died on Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with his wife Pamela by his side.
Belafonte released more than thirty albums during his career and received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy from the Recording Academy in 2000.
In the late 1950s, Belafonte was a matinee idol and a rare non-white screen sex symbol in films like “Island in the Sun,” “Carmen Jones” and “Odds Against Tomorrow”..
He also used his considerable stardom to draw attention to civil rights issues and injustices around the world, including masterminding the 1986 human-chain campaign Hands Across America and the driving force behind nonprofit organization USA for Africa.
In 2022 he 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. His last film was Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman”.
Source: THR
