Harry Belafonte, 96, Dies; Barrier-Breaking Singer, Actor and Activist
Source: New York Times
Harry Belafonte stormed the pop charts and smashed racial barriers in the 1950s with his highly personal brand of folk music, and went on to become a major force in the civil rights movement. Above, the singer in 1957.Credit...Bob Henriques/Magnum Photos
Harry Belafonte, who stormed the pop charts and smashed racial barriers in the 1950s with his highly personal brand of folk music, and who went on to become a major force in the civil rights movement, died on Tuesday at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was 96.
The cause was congestive heart failure, said Ken Sunshine, his longtime spokesman.
At a time when segregation was still widespread and Black faces were still a rarity on screens large and small, Mr. Belafonte's ascent to the upper echelon of show business was historic. He was not the first Black entertainer to transcend racial boundaries; Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and others had achieved stardom before him. But none had made as much of a splash as he did, and for a few years no one in music, Black or white, was bigger.
Born in Harlem to West Indian immigrants, he almost single-handedly ignited a craze for Caribbean music with hit records like "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" and "Jamaica Farewell." His album "Calypso," which contained both those songs, reached the top of the Billboard album chart shortly after its release in 1956 and stayed there for 31 weeks. Coming just before the breakthrough of Elvis Presley, it was said to be the first album by a single artist to sell more than a million copies.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/25/arts/music/harry-belafonte-dead.html
Damn.
No paywall
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My late father had the live concert album from Carnegie Hall that Harry Belafonte did.
I remember trying to sing "Day-O" phonetically when I was about 10 years old. Had no idea what it was about, just loved the music.
R.I.P., Mr. Belafonte.
you were one of the good ones.
Jump In The Line
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…when she left town a decade or more ago. She had them all. Every time someone here mentions another song it starts playing in my head, and I haven’t pulled out my discs in years. Today’s the day.
What a voice, like dark honey; with perfect timing and stage presence. What a gorgeous man. All that and a civil rights icon as well. A life well-lived. Thank you for everything, Mr. Belafonte.
A short time after the movie Beetlejuice was released in 1988 a whole swath of young people heard the song “The Banana Boat Song (Day-O ) possibly for the first time.
I worked at a public school cafeteria as the cashier. We had an indoor cafeteria.
The 8th graders ate alone there after the K-7th graders were finished.
One lunch afternoon I heard two voices from the back of the lunch room sing out Day-O and then another small group answered Day-O and another group sing Daylight come…we want to go home.
This went on for over a dozen vollies throughout the cafeteria and then died out.
Young people are amazing.
Tikki
🕊
