Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
	Belafonte in 1996
Background information
Birth name	Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.
Born	March 1, 1927; Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Died	April 25, 2023 (aged 96); Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Genres	Calypso; mento; pop; folk; world;
Occupation(s)	Singer; actor; activist;
Years active	1949–2023
Labels	RCA Victor; CBS; EMI; Island

Harold George "Harry" Belafonte Jr. (originally Belafonete or Bellanfanti; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and activist. His father was from Martinique; his mother was of Jamaican descent. He was a very successful pop singer. Some call him the "King of Calypso," because he popularized this Caribbean musical style in the 1950s. Belafonte is well known for singing the "Banana Boat Song", with the words "Day-O."^[1]

He worked for civil rights and humanitarian causes. He criticized the policies of George W. Bush. He endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States in 2008 and Bernie Sanders for president in 2016.

Belafonte died from congestive heart failure on April 25, 2023 at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, at the age of 96.^[2]

Filmography[change | change source]

Bright Road (1953)
Carmen Jones (1954)
Island in the Sun (1957)
The Heart of Show Business (1957) (short subject)
The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970) (documentary) (narrator)
The Angel Levine (1970)
Buck and the Preacher (1972)
Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
A veces miro mi vida (1982)
Drei Lieder (1983) (short subject)
Sag nein (1983) (documentary)
Der Schönste Traum (1984) (documentary)
We Shall Overcome (1989) (documentary) (narrator)
The Player (1992) (Cameo)
Ready to Wear (1994) (Cameo)
Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream (1995)
White Man's Burden (1995)
Jazz '34 (1996)
Kansas City (1996)
Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist (1998) (documentary)
Fidel (2001) (documentary)
XXI Century (2003) (documentary)
Conakry Kas (2003) (documentary)
Ladders (2004) (documentary) (narrator)
Mo & Me (2006) (documentary)
Bobby (2006)
Motherland(2009) (documentary)

Television work[change | change source]

Sugar Hill Times (1949-1950)
Tonight With Belafonte (1959)
Petula (1968)
A World in Music (1969)
Harry & Lena, For The Love Of Life (1969)
A World in Love (1970)
Free to Be… You and Me (1974)
The Muppet Show (1978)
Grambling's White Tiger (1981)
Don't Stop The Carnival (1985)
An Evening With Harry Belafonte And Friends (1997)
Swing Vote (1999)
Tanner on Tanner (2004)
That's What I'm Talking About (2006) (miniseries)
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006) (miniseries)

Stage work[change | change source]

John Murray Anderson's Almanac (December 10, 1953 - June 26, 1954)
3 for Tonight (April 6 - June 18, 1955)
Moonbirds (October 9 - October 10, 1959) (producer)
Belafonte at the Palace (December 15, 1959 - closing date unknown)
Asinamali! (April 23 - May 17, 1987) (producer)

Quotation[change | change source]

“	The sham engineers of the music industry, who steer the wheels of public opinion, are driving the good features of calypso into the ground. I shudder to think what these greedy men will eventually do to this true art form.	”
— NME - May 1957^[3]

References[change | change source]

↑ Show 18 - Blowin' in the Wind: Pop discovers folk music. [Part 1] : UNT Digital Library
↑ Keepnews, Peter (April 25, 2023). "Harry Belafonte, 96, Dies; Barrier-Breaking Singer, Actor and Activist". The New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
↑ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 40. CN 5585.

Other websites[change | change source]

Harry Belafonte on IMDb
Harry Belafonte at the Internet Broadway Database
Harry Belafonte - a site of sites Archived 2005-11-26 at the Wayback Machine
Harry Belafonte discography
2004 Global Exchange Human Rights Award Archived 2005-10-06 at the Wayback Machine - Belafonte's acceptance speech in San Francisco
Ubben Lecture at DePauw University
Democracy Now! Archived 2007-11-16 at the Wayback Machine transcript/MP3/video of interview by Amy Goodman, January 30, 2006
The Bigotry of Belafonte Archived 2011-02-19 at the Wayback Machine - by Andrew Sullivan, Salon.com, Oct. 25, 2002
"The Man Behind Belafonte's Music - Irving Burgie" - by Ronald David Jackson, with video
Discography at SonyBMG Masterworks Archived 2007-08-04 at the Wayback Machine
The HistoryMakers Archived 2010-12-31 at the Wayback Machine Biography and video clips
Harry Belafonte Appreciation Group on Imeem
Harry Belafonte: Belafonte At Carnegie Hall
Belafonte and Nat King Cole sing "Mama Look at Bubu"
Belafonte: "Iraq & Afghanistan Wars Are Immoral" - video report by Democracy Now!
Hear Harry Belafonte on the Pop Chronicles

[pc18-1] Show 18 - Blowin' in the Wind: Pop discovers folk music. [Part 1] : UNT Digital Library

[Keepnews-2] Keepnews, Peter (April 25, 2023). "Harry Belafonte, 96, Dies; Barrier-Breaking Singer, Actor and Activist". The New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2023.

[NME_Rock_'N'_Roll_Years-3] Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 40. CN 5585.

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[2]

[3]

v t e People who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards
listed by duration and year of completion
Competitive EGOTs	Richard Rodgers (1945–1962) Helen Hayes (1932–1976) Rita Moreno (1961–1977) John Gielgud (1961–1991) Audrey Hepburn (1953–1994) Marvin Hamlisch (1973–1995) Jonathan Tunick (1977–1997) Mel Brooks (1967–2001) Mike Nichols (1964–2001) Whoopi Goldberg (1985–2002) Scott Rudin (1984–2012) Robert Lopez (2004–2014) John Legend (2006–2018) Tim Rice (1980–2018) Andrew Lloyd Webber (1980–2018) Alan Menken (1989–2020) Jennifer Hudson (2006–2022) Viola Davis (2001–2023)
Honorary recipients	Barbra Streisand (1963–1970) Liza Minnelli (1965–1990) James Earl Jones (1969–2011) Harry Belafonte (1953–2014) Quincy Jones (1964–2016)