Harry Belafonte death updates — The Banana Boat Song legend dies at 96 as cause revealed as congestive heart failure | The Sun
THE BANANA Boat Song legend Harry Belafonte has died at 96 years old.
The barrier-breaking singer died from congestive heart failure at his New York City home on Tuesday with his wife Pamela by his side, according to reports.
Alongside his illustrious music career, Belafonte was also an award-winning actor featuring in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Carmen Jones.
However, he also made huge contributions to the world offstage, being a keen civil rights activist.
Follow our Harry Belafonte blog for more news and updates…
- Amanda Castro
Honest work prior to films
Belafonte was born in working-class Harlem, New York, in 1927. He spent his early years in his parents' poor homeland Jamaica for eight years.
He went back to New York to finish high school, but due to dyslexia, he left in his early adolescence.
He did odd jobs in the city's garment area and marketplaces before enlisting in the US Navy at the age of 17 in March 1944 at a base in New Jersey.
After the war, he worked as a janitor's helper, but after seeing performances at New York's American Negro Theatre, he wanted to be an actor.
He sang folk, pop, and jazz tunes at New York club engagements, paying for acting lessons by being supported by ensembles that included Miles Davis and Charlie Parker.
- Jennifer Korn
Harry Belafonte on his friendship with Sidney Poitier
Belafonte said of his friendship with Poitier: “For over 80 years, Sidney and I laughed, cried and made as much mischief as we could."
He continued in a statement regarding Poitier's death: "He was truly my brother and partner in trying to make this world a little better. He certainly made mine a whole lot better."
- Jennifer Korn
More on the stars' friendship
In 1946, Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte struck up a friendship while they both lived in New York and worked at The American Negro Theatre.
While taking on parts in stage production, Poitier was Belafonte's understudy at one point.
On February 20, 2017, Belafonte tweeted Poitier a happy birthday while replying to a New York Times op-ed story about the two's history.
The King of Calypso posted on Twitter: "Soul Brothers indeed! Happy birthday to my good friend, Sidney Poitier."
- Jennifer Korn
Harry Belafonte was friends with Sidney Poitier
Harry Belafonte – who died April 25, 2023 – and Sidney Poitier, who died January 7, 2022 – had a lot in common.
Both were notable, groundbreaking black actors of a West Indian background in the Golden Era of Hollywood.
Even though their careers caused them to cross paths multiple times, the two actors met long before either one of them broke through the Hollywood mainstream.
- Amanda Castro
Star’s activism before death, continued
He was also been a huge supporter of HIV/AIDS research and the campaign against it in South Africa.
Belafonte was also named a Grand Marshal of the New York City Pride Parade in 2013, and the Honorary Co-Chair of the Women's March on Washington in 2017.
- Amanda Castro
Star's activism before death
Belafonte had always been an activist.
He highlighted this part of him heavily in his memoir, My Song, which was made into a documentary film in 2011.
His activism peaked during the Civil Rights Movement when he befriended Martin Luther King, Jr.
According to MLK's autobiography, Belafonte raised money to bail out King but also countless other supporters when they were locked up during the 1963 Birmingham campaigns.
He supported voter registration drives and even helped organize the 1963 March on Washington.
Other causes that Belafonte was involved with include the 1985 multi-artist effort to raise funds in Africa, with the Grammy-Award-winning song We Are the World.
- Amanda Castro
Star's activism before death
Belafonte had always been an activist.
He highlighted this part of him heavily in his memoir, My Song, which was made into a documentary film in 2011.
His activism peaked during the Civil Rights Movement when he befriended Martin Luther King, Jr.
According to MLK's autobiography, Belafonte raised money to bail out King but also countless other supporters when they were locked up during the 1963 Birmingham campaigns.
He supported voter registration drives and even helped organize the 1963 March on Washington.
Other causes that Belafonte was involved with include the 1985 multi-artist effort to raise funds in Africa, with the Grammy-Award-winning song We Are the World.
- Jennifer Korn
Harry Belafonte made history
Belafonte went on to become the first black man to win a Tony Award for his acting in John Murray Anderson's Almanac on Broadway.
He was also the first black man to win an Emmy, for his first solo TV special Tonight with Belafonte in 1959.
The mid-90s saw Belafonte perform with John Travolta, in White Man's Burden.
He was also cast in Robert Altman's film, Kansas City.
His most recent appearance was in 2018's BlacKkKlansman, a film by Spike Lee, in which he played an elderly Civil Rights pioneer.
- Jennifer Korn
Harry Belafonte's key roles
Harry Belafonte was cast in and produced many popular films.
His first film role was alongside Dorothy Dandridge in the 1953 movie Bright Road.
He went on to be in others with Dandridge and then appeared in two with Poitier: Buck and the Preacher, in 1972 and Uptown Saturday Night, in 1974.
- Amanda Castro
Belafonte's movies
Belafonte was cast in and produced many popular films.
His first film role was alongside Dorothy Dandridge in the 1953 movie Bright Road.
He went on to be in others with Dandridge and then appeared in two with Poitier: Buck and the Preacher, in 1972 and Uptown Saturday Night, in 1974.
Belafonte went on to become the first black man to win a Tony Award for his acting in John Murray Anderson's Almanac on Broadway.
He was also the first black man to win an Emmy, for his first solo TV special Tonight with Belafonte in 1959.
The mid-90s saw Belafonte perform with John Travolta, in White Man's Burden.
He was also cast in Robert Altman's film, Kansas City.
His most recent appearance was in 2018's BlacKkKlansman, a film by Spike Lee, in which he played an elderly Civil Rights pioneer.
- Jennifer Korn
More on Harry Belafonte
The song is a call-and-response song from Belafonte's time in Kingston, Jamaica.
"Work all night on a drink of rum," the song goes, "Daylight come and we want go home."
This song, along with others on his breakthrough record, Calypso, made a name for the singer when it became the first LP in history to sell more than 1 million copies in a year.
The civil rights icon passed away at 96 years old at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on April 25, 2023.
- Jennifer Korn
Who Harry Belafonte was
Born in Harlem in 1927, Harry Belafonte spent his childhood in both New York City and Jamaica.
He was a well-known actor, songwriter, producer, and activist.
Belafonte was notably the artist who started the phenomenon of Caribbean-style music being widely known outside of the tropics.
Many fans knew him as the man who sang the Banana Boat Song, also known as Day-O!
- Jennifer Korn
Who Harry Belafonte was
Born in Harlem in 1927, Harry Belafonte spent his childhood in both New York City and Jamaica.
He was a well-known actor, songwriter, producer, and activist.
Belafonte was notably the artist who started the phenomenon of Caribbean-style music being widely known outside of the tropics.
Many fans knew him as the man who sang the Banana Boat Song, also known as Day-O!
- Amanda Castro
Harry Belafonte dies
Harry Belafonte passed away on Tuesday at his home in Manhattan's Upper West Side.
He was 96.
His seasoned spokesperson Ken Sunshine identified congestive heart disease as the root of the problem.
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