Grammy winning star Harry Belafonte, is dead

The singer and actor who became a civil rights activist, Harry Belafonte dies at 96.

Belafonte, a Grammy, Emmy and Tony winning star died of congestive heart failure at his New York home on Tuesday, with his wife by his side, according to a spokesperson.

Belafonte is known for his signature song Banana Boat (Day-O), he was largely responsible for bringing Calypso music to an international audience in the 1950s, and the first singer, in any genre, to sell a million records in a year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day-O_(The_Banana_Boat_Song)

Being one of the first black performers to gain a wide following on film, he starred in movies including Carmen Jones, Island in the Sun and Odds Against Tomorrow.

Last year, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, becoming the oldest person ever to receive the honour.

He was also a committed activist, working closely with Martin Luther King Jr during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

https://www.nps.gov/features/malu/feat0002/wof/Harold_Belafonte.htm#:~:text=Jamaican%2DAmerican%20musician%2C%20actor%20and,to%20keep%20movement%20activities%20going.

Fittingly, Belafonte made an apt cameo appearance in Spike Lee’s Oscar winning 2018 film BlacKkKlansman, playing an elder statesman schooling young activists about America’s past.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlacKkKlansman