Harry Belafonte death: Grammy-winning singer and activist dies aged 96

Pioneering artist Harry Belafonte has died aged 96.

The singer, actor and activist, who was known for songs such as “Banana Boat” (1956) and “Jump in the Line” (1961), died at his home in Manhattan on Tuesday (25 April), his publicist said.

Ken Sunshine, Belafonte’s long-time spokesperson, confirmed to The New York Times that the musician had died of congestive heart failure.

Belafonte was born in New York to Jamaican immigrant parents.

He is widely considered the most successful Caribbean-American pop star and is credited with bringing the Calypso musical style from its Trinidad and Tobago roots to an international audience in the 1950s.

As well as his career as a recording artist, for which he earned three Grammy Awards, Belafonte starred in several films, including Carmen Jones (1954), Island in the Sun (1957), and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).

Belafonte was a committed activist and played a significant role in the American civil rights movement. He was a close confidant of Martin Luther King and helped to organise the March on Washington of 1963.

Additionally, Belafonte regularly used his own money to bail civil rights activists out of prison.

Responding to news of Belafonte’s death, Bernice King, King’s daughter, recalled how Belafonte was compassionate to her family.

“In fact, he paid for the babysitter for me and my siblings,” she tweeted, before attaching a photo of Belafonte and Coretta Scott King at the activist’s funeral in 1968.

“Here he is mourning with my mother at the funeral service for my father at Morehouse College,” she continued. “I won’t forget… Rest well, sir.”

Belafonte was known for combining his creative talent with a desire to enact change in the world. In 1985, he was one of the key organisers in putting together the Grammy-winning charity song “We Are the World”, which featured artists such as Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen and Diana Ross.

Belafonte made his final film appearance in Spike Lee’s 2018 film BlackKklansman, in which Belafonte played an elderly civil rights pioneer.

Last year saw Belafonte inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Early Influence category. He was the oldest living person to have received the honour.

In his lifetime, Belafonte was awarded both an Emmy and a Tony. In 1986, he was also feted with the Kennedy Center Honour for his contribution to American culture.

Tony-nominated actor Sheryl Lee Ralph shared a photo with Belafonte in tribute to him on Tuesday.

As a caption, she wrote: “Mr Belafonte and I were working on a film together called ‘White Mans Burden’. I was pregnant with my daughter and he claimed her as his Godchild.”

In a tribute on Twitter, Labour MP David Lammy shared a photograph of himself with Belafonte. Alongside the picture, Lammy wrote that it was a “great joy” to interview Belafonte in 2012.

Lammy added: “His music and films lit up my childhood home and encouraged my parents. But it is for his civil rights campaigning that I hope he rests in power alongside his friend MLK.”

In 2011, Belafonte released his autobiography titled My Song: A Memoir, in which he shared thoughts on the developments of racial justice in the US.

“About my own life, I have no complaints,” he wrote. “Yet the problems faced by most Americans of colour seem as dire and entrenched as they were half a century ago.”

Belafonte is survived by his wife, photographer Pamela Frank, four children and five grandchildren.