Harry Belafonte, a genre-defining musician and an activist who paved the way for artists of color through his work in the civil rights movement, has passed away at the age of 96.
According to his spokesman and longtime representative Ken Sunshine, the legendary entertainer died of congestive heart failure at his Upper West Side home in Manhattan.
© Getty ImagesBelafonte was one of the leading musicians of the 1950s, creating a space for Caribbean-Americans, Black artists, and musicians of color in a largely homogenous industry.
Songs such as "Jamaican Farewell," "Jump in the Line," and particularly "The Banana Boat Song," have become staples of the Trinbagonian Calypso style he popularized, with the latter surging in popularity thanks to its use in Beetlejuice.
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Belafonte was also a noted actor, thanks to performances in movies such as Carmen Jones (1954), Islands in the Sun (1957), and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).
In fact, his breakthrough album, his third studio record titled Calypso (1956), became the first LP to sell a million copies and topped the Billboard album charts for a staggering 31 weeks.
© Getty ImagesAmong his honors include three Grammys, a Tony Award, and an Emmy Award, alongside an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a Kennedy Center Honor, and the National Medal of Arts.
Tributes have already started pouring in for the legendary entertainer, with Mia Farrow tweeting: "We have lost the great Harry Belafonte-beautiful singer, brilliant and brave civil rights activist, a deeply moral and caring man. Miss you already Harry."
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Christiane Amanpour wrote: "May Harry Belafonte, the lionhearted civil rights hero, rest in peace. He inspired generations around the whole world in the struggle for non-violent resistance, justice and change. We need his example now more than ever."
He was particularly renowned for his work as an activist, a close friend of Martin Luther King Jr.'s, and was an active part of the civil rights movement. Belafonte also advocated for the end of the Apartheid movement and the USA for Africa group, being a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 1987.
© Getty ImagesHe is survived by his third wife, Pamela Frank, his four children with his previous two wives, and his five grandchildren.
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