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Harry Belafonte, the American singer, actor and social activist known as the King of Calypso, has died. He was 96 years old.
Belafonte died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his New York home, his wife Pamela by his side, said Paula M. Witt, of the public relations firm Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis.
Belafonte, whose family is Jamaican, spent his childhood on the island and popularized Caribbean music with an international audience in the 1950s through hits such as Banana Boat Song.
WATCH / Harry Belafonte spoke to the CBC in the 1960s about mixing art and politics:
The singer described how his personal life experiences led to his political involvement.
Belafonte had a significant career as an actor, challenging the taboo in 1957 Island in the Sunplayed by a Black man contemplating a relationship with Joan Fontaine.
He won a Tony Award in 1954 for his role in the John Murray Anderson film Calendar and became the first black person to win an Emmy in 1959 for a solo TV special Tonight with Belafonte.
Offstage, he was an active participant in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, often working closely with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
He also played a role in the anti-apartheid war in South Africa and helped raise money for food aid and AIDS charities in Africa.
More to come
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