Harry Belafonte

At 97 years old, Harry Belafonte has this physical status:

Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr., 1927) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor.

He was dubbed "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s. He was one of the first Jamaican-American pop stars to do so.

Calypso (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.

Belafonte is perhaps best known for his recording of "The Banana Boat Song," as well as its iconic lyric "Day-O."

He has performed and appeared in a variety of genres, including blues, folk, gospel, show tunes, and American standards.

Carmen Jones (1954), Island in the Sun (1957), and Robert Wise's Odds Against Tomorrow (1959). Belafonte was a precursor to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s, and he was a trusted advisor to Martin Luther King Jr.

He has been a promoter for social and humanitarian causes, including the Anti-Apartheid Movement and USA for Africa throughout his lifetime.

He has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 1987.

He was a vocal critic of George W. Bush's governmental policies.

Belafonte is the American Civil Liberties Union's spokesperson on juvenile justice reform.Belafonte has received three Grammy Awards (including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award.

He was given the Kennedy Center Honors in 1989.

In 1994, he was given the National Medal of Arts.

At the Academy's 6th Annual Governors Awards in 2014, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Early life

Belafonte was born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr., a housekeeper, and Harold George Bellanfanti Sr., a cook. His mother was the child of a Black American mother and an Afro-Jamaican father, and his father was the nephew of a Black American mother and a Dutch-Jewish father of Sephardic Jewish descent. Harry, Jr., was raised Catholic.

He lived with one of his grandmothers in Jamaica, where he attended Wolmer's Schools from 1932 to 1940. He attended George Washington High School after which he joined the Navy and served during World War II. As a tenant gave him, as a gratuity, two tickets to see the American Negro Theater in the 1940s. He fell in love with the art form and also met Sidney Poitier. Since informing the other about the development of the play, the financially struggling pair regularly bought a single seat to local plays, trading places in between acts. While performing with the American Negro Theater in New York during the 1940s, he took classes in acting at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with influential German director Erwin Piscator. He was later rewarded with a Tony Award for his participation in John Murray Anderson's Almanac (1954). He appeared in the 2005 Broadway revue 3 for Tonight with Gower Champion John Leopolski.

Personal life

Belafonte and Marguerite Byrd were married from 1948 to 1957. Adrienne and Shari Belafonte have two children. When Byrd was pregnant with Shari, they separated. The Anir Foundation / Experience, founded by Adrienne and her daughter Rachel Blue, focuses on charitable work in southern Africa. Shari is a photographer, model, singer, and actress, and she is married to actor Sam Behrens.

Belafonte was able to move from Washington Heights, Manhattan, "to a white neighborhood in Elmhurst, Queens," in 1953.

During the filming of Island in the Sun, Belafonte had an affair with actor Joan Collins.

Belafonte married Julie Robinson, a former dancer with the Katherine Dunham Company who was of Jewish descent, on March 8, 1957. David and Gina were their two children. David, Harry Belafonte's only son, is a Grammy-nominated music director and executive director of Belafonte Enterprises Inc., and has been active in all of Belafonte's albums, tours, and productions. He is married to model and singer Malena Belafonte, who appeared with Belafonte. Gina Belafonte, a television and film actress, has worked with her father as a mentor and producer on more than six films.

Belafonte and Robinson divorced after 47 years of marriage. Pamela Frank, a photographer from Belafonte, married photographer Pamela Frank in April 2008.

Belafonte has five grandchildren, including Rachel and Brian from his children with Marguerite Byrd, Sarafina, and Amadeus through Julie Robinson's children. Belafonte wrote a letter to My Grandchild from Liv Ullmann in October 1998.

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Music career

Belafonte began his singing career in New York as a club singer in New York to compensate for his acting lessons. He appeared before an audience for the first time, including Charlie Parker himself, Max Roach, and Miles Davis. He began his career as a Roost singer on the Roost label in 1949, but a keen interest in folk music and learning through the Library of Congress' American folk songs archives revealed himself. Belafonte made his debut at the legendary jazz club The Village Vanguard, with guitarist and friend Millard Thomas. In 1953, he began recording for the brand for the first time until 1974.

Belafonte appeared in Las Vegas during the Rat Pack period. The Sands Hotel and Casino, as well as Sammy Davis Jr., were among his guests.

Belafonte's first widely distributed single, which went on to become his "signature" audience participation song in virtually all his live shows, was "Matilda," released April 27, 1953. Belafonte announced on August 7, 2012 that his breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was the first LP in the world to sell over 1 million copies within a year," Belafonte said on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's The Link project. It was also the first million-selling album in England, according to the singer. The album is number four on Billboard's "Top 100 Album" list for spending 31 weeks at number one, 58 weeks in the top ten, and 99 weeks on the US charts for being the top ten. The album introduced Calypso music to audiences in Trinidad and Tobago in the early 20th century, and Belafonte was dubbed the "King of Calypso" by the artist, who wore with reservations since he had no claims to any Calypso Monarch titles.

One of the album's highlights is the now famous "Banana Boat Song" (also known as "Day-O" on the Calypso album), which reached number five on the pop charts and featured its signature lyric "Day-O" — one of the songs on the album.

Several of the compositions for Calypso, including "Banana Boat Song" and "Jamaica Farewell," all give credit to Irving Burgie for songwriting.

Belafonte has performed in a variety of genres, including blues, folk, gospel, show tunes, and American standards, although primarily known for calypso. "Mama Look at Bubu," the comedic tune that appeared on "The Banana Boat Song," was immediately following Lord Melody's recording of misbehaving and disrespectful children. It debuted at number ten on the pop chart, which it also ranked eleventh.

Belafonte appeared in Tonight With Belafonte, a nationally broadcast television special that featured Odetta, who performed "Water Boy" and who performed a duet with Belafonte that debuted in 1959. Belafonte (1959), the first Jamaican American to win an Emmy for Revlon Revue: Revlon Revue: Belafonte (1959). Two live albums, both recorded at Carnegie Hall in 1959 and 1960, enjoyed critical and commercial success. "Hava Nagila" became part of his regular routine and one of his signature songs on his 1959 album. In 1961, Frank Sinatra had invited him to appear at President John F. Kennedy's inaugural gala. Jump Up Calypso, RCA Victor's second volume, debuted later this year, becoming yet another million-selling product. He introduced many artists to American audiences, most notably South African singer Miriam Makeba and Greek singer Nana Mouskouri. Bob Dylan, a young harmonica player on his album Midnight Special (1962), was included.

Belafonte's commercial success diminished as the Beatles and other British celebrities began to dominate the US pop charts; 1964's Belafonte at The Greek Theatre was his last album to be included in Billboard's Top 40. In 1967, his last hit single, "A Strange Song," was released and debuted at number five on the adult contemporary music charts. Belafonte has been nominated for two albums, Swing Dat Hammer (1960), and An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba (1965). The new album dealt with the political plight of black South Africans in the aftermath of apartheid's apartheid's apartheid. He has six Gold Records.

Belafonte appeared on television specials with such performers as Julie Andrews, Petula Clark, Lena Horne, and Nana Mouskouri in the 1960s. Belafonte, 1967, was the first non-classical artist to perform at the prestigious Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) in Upstate New York, and he'll soon be joined by the Doors, the 5th Dimension, and Janis Joplin.

Belafonte guest appeared on The Tonight Show from February 5 to September 9, 1968, substituting Johnny Carson for Johnny Carson. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy were among his interviewers.

Calypso Carnival, Belafonte's fifth and final calypso album, was released by RCA in 1971. Belafonte's recording career slowed drastically after releasing his final album for RCA in 1974. Belafonte spent the majority of his time on tour, which included concerts in Japan, Europe, and Cuba, from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. Columbia Records' Turn the World Around, 1977, brought a strong emphasis on world music. Columbia never released the album in the United States. He appeared on an episode of The Muppet Show in 1978, where he performed his signature song "Day-O". However, the episode is best known for Belafonte's interpretation of the spiritual song "Turn the World Around," which he performed with specially made Muppets that resembled African tribal masks. It was one of the series's most popular performances, and Jim Henson's favorite episode was undoubtedly Jim Henson's. Belafonte was invited to perform the song at Henson's memorial service following Henson's death in May 1990. In the 2005 official hymnal supplement to the Unitarian Universalist Association's Singing the Journey, "turn the World Around" was included.

Belafonte's time as a visitor in Africa during the 1980s ignited renewed interest in his music, resulting in a record contract with EMI. In 1988, Paradise in Gazankulu released his first album of original music in over a decade. The album features ten protest songs against the South African former Apartheid government, as well as his last studio album. Belafonte, Zimbabwe's UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, attended a symposium on child survival and development in Southern African countries this year. He gave a concert for UNICEF as part of the symposium. The concert, which was released as a 60-minute concert video called "Global Carnival," was shot by a Kodak video crew. It includes many of the songs from Paradise's album Paradise in Gazankulu as well as some of his best hits. "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song), "Man Smart, Woman Smarter"), "Sweetheart from Venezuela"), and "Jump in the Line" were all included in the film Beetlejuice, directed by Tim Burton.

Island Records released An Evening with Harry Belafonte and Friends, a soundtrack and video of a televised concert, in 1997. The Long Road to Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music, a huge multi-artist project launched by RCA in the 1960s and 1970s, was finally released by the label in 2001. Belafonte appeared on the Today Show to promote the album on September 11, 2001, and Katie Couric followed the plane just minutes before the first plane struck the World Trade Center. The album was nominated for Best Album Notes and Best Historical Album in 2002 by the Grammy Awards for Best Boxed Recording Package, as well as Best Historical Album.

In 1989, Belafonte was honoured with the Kennedy Center Honors. In 1994, he was given the National Medal of Arts, and in 2000 he was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He appeared in sold-out concerts around the world from the 1950s to the 2000s. Following a tour in Europe, he was forced to cancel a reunion tour with Nana Mouskouri for the spring and summer of 2003. On October 25, 2003, his last performance for the Atlanta Opera House was a benefit concert. He said in a 2007 interview that he had since retired from performing.

Belafonte, the Rhode Island School of Design's Keynote Speaker and 2013 Honoree, was on January 29, 2013. Belafonte spoke about artists as activists as a result of his work and encounters with Dr. King.

On January 11, 2014, Belafonte was inducted as an honorary member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

Belafonte was named an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in Boston in March 2014.

Belafonte's children Sarafina and Amadeus, as well as an anthology of some of Belafonte's earlier recordings, including lyrics for an updated version of "Island In The Sun," directed by longtime Belafonte musical director Richard Cummings, was released in 2017.

Film career

Belafonte has appeared in several films. In Bright Road (1953), where he appeared alongside Dorothy Dandridge, was his first film role. Carmen Jones, Otto Preminger's hit musical, followed the two characters (1954). Belafonte's singing in the film was dubbed by an opera singer, who was seen as unsuitable for the role. Belafonte was then able to do several then-controversial film roles using his actor clout. There are hints of a friendship between Belafonte's character and Joan Fontaine's portrayal on 1957's Island in the Sun. James Mason, Dandridge, Joan Collins, Michael Rennie, and John Justin appeared in the film. He appeared in and produced Odds Against Tomorrow, Robert Wise's Odds Against Tomorrow, in which he plays a bank robber uncomfortably partnered with a racial associate in 1959. (Robert Ryan) In The World, the Flesh, and the Devil co-starred Inger Stevens. Belafonte was offered the role of Porgy in Preminger's Porgy and Bess, where he'd have appeared opposite Dandridge once more, but he turned down the role due to racial stereotyping.

Belafonte, who was dissatisfied with the majority of the film roles, concentrated on 1960s music. Belafonte appeared in more films in the early 1970s, two of which were with Poitier: Buck and the Preacher (1972) and Uptown Saturday Night (1974). Belafonte produced and scored Beat Street in 1984, responding to the revival of hip-hop music. He co-produced the gold-certified soundtrack of the same name with Arthur Baker. Belafonte appeared in a major film again in the mid-1990s, most notably with John Travolta in the race-reverse drama White Man's Burden (1995); and in Robert Altman's jazz age drama Kansas City (1996), the latter of which earned him the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor. In the television drama Swing Vote (1999), he also appeared as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Belafonte appeared in Bobby, Emilio Estevez's ensemble drama about Robert F. Kennedy's assassination of his brother, Ambassador Hotel employee (Anthony Hopkins). In Spike Lee's BlacKlansman (2018) as an elderly civil rights pioneer.

Business career

Harry Belafonte is a fan and has visited Bonaire, the Caribbean island. On Bonaire, he and Maurice Neme of Oranjestad, Aruba, formed a joint venture to establish a wealthy private community. Belnem, Belnem, and Neme was built in the neighbourhood on June 3, 1966. The Bel-Nem Caribbean Development Corporation is responsible for the neighborhood. Belafonte and Neme were the first directors of the company. Belnem was home to 717 residents in 2017.

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