The “King of Calypso,” Harold George Belafonte Jr., passed away this morning from congestive heart failure. He was a singer, actor, producer, and activist who spawned a calypso craze in the U.S. with his music and blazed new trails for African-American performers.
Belafonte’s Early Years
Belafonte was born on March 1, 1927, in New York City, New York. His parents, Melvine Love and Harold George Bellantanti Sr., were emigrants from the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Jamaica. In 1935, he moved to Jamaica with his mother. He lived there for a few years before returning to the United States.
The King of Calypso moved back to New York in 1940. However, four years later, at the age of 17, he dropped out of high school to serve in the U.S. Navy. He served in the Navy for two years. Afterward, Belafonte returned to his home state where he studied drama at Erwin Piscator’s Dramatic Workshop. Additionally, a singing role led him to entertain in nightclubs and a recording contract as a pop singer.
Belafonte is the genius behind hits such as “Day-O (Banana Boat Song)” and “Jump In The Line,” which can be heard in the 1988 film “Beetlejuice.” He also sang “Island in the Sun,” “Songs of Many Lands,” “Jamaica Farewell,” “Cu Cu Ru Cu Cu Paloma,” and many more.
Public Stature and Lifelong Friends
The singer joined the American Negro Theater in Harlem where he met Paul Robeson and Sidney Poitier. Belafonte can be seen in “Bright Road,” “Carmen Jones,” “Island in the Sun,” The World, the Flesh, and the Devil,” and “Odds Against Tomorrow,” just to name a few. Needing more income to support his family he began singing American folk songs, Caribbean folk songs and dabbled in jazz. Later, he began to produce.
Belafonte used his public stature to his advantage as he helped advance the Black freedom struggle. In December 1956, he appeared with Coretta Scott King and Duke Ellington at the fundraising event “Salute to Montgomery.” In May of the following year, Belafonte participated in Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom in Washington, D.C. During this event he reportedly told a friend:
We play a hit and run game up here. We come down here like this and say our piece and then it’s all over. But the Rev. Martin Luther King has to go back and face it all over again.
Continuing the Good Fight
Throughout the 1960s, Belafonte continued to use his stature to uplift the Black community. He also provided financial assistance to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Belafonte invited prominent individuals to a meeting at his New York apartment in late March 1963. At that time, King and Fred Shuttlesworth discussed plans for the Birmingham Campaign and appealed for financial support to be used primarily for bail money.
The singer/activist didn’t hesitate to organize a committee to raise funds for the movement. During the period King was detained in a Birmingham jail, Belafonte raised $50,000, allowing the campaign to proceed. He served as an executor of King’s estate and chaired the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Fund after King’s assassination in April 1968. Afterward, the singer/activist continued to support national and international civil rights and humanitarian issues.
Appreciation for Those Showing Diversity
Throughout his career, Belafonte was able to see the many faces of children all over the world. He was able to see their faces when they watched things like “Sesame Street” and “The Muppets.” He had a great appreciation for Jim Henson and his colleagues.
Unless you have had the experience of sitting in a village in war-ravaged Guatemala, or a humble, box-like room in the wretched South African township of Alexandra, or in a dust-covered hovel on a Native American reservation, or in the tin shacks that house the thousands who live desperate lives in East Kingston Jamaica, or in an overcrowded, below-poverty-level dwelling in a Ghetto in New York, Chicago, or Detroit, among people whose lives are dominated by their bitter struggle for existence and some bit of dignity, unless you’ve seen from these places the looks on the faces of small children as they watched Sesame Street or the Muppets, you’ll never really understand what Jim and his colleagues have done for millions of children all over the world, children who have never smiled, nor dared to dream, had it not been for Jim Henson. I come from those places; I know these faces. Through them, I came to fully appreciate Jim.
Family Life
The singer was married three times in his life, according to IMDb. On June 18, 1948, he married Marguerite Belafonte. They divorced on Feb. 28, 1957, and had two children together. In March 1957, he married Julie Robinson and they had two children. The couple divorced in 2008. On April 12, 2008, he married his now widow Pamela Frank.
His children’s names are Adriene, David, Gina, and Shari. He has two stepchildren Sarah and Lindsey. Additionally, Belafonte was the proud grandfather of eight grandbabies. He will be greatly missed by his family, friends, and fans. May he rest in peace.
By Sheena Robertson
Sources:
Yahoo!: Harry Belafonte, Calypso King Who Worked for African-American Rights, Dies at 96
IMDb: Harry Belafonte
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute: Belafonte, Harold George, Jr.
Britannica: Harry Belafonte
Encyclopedia: Belafonte, Harry
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Institute for Policy Studies‘ Flickr Page – Creative Commons Lic nese
Inset Image Courtesy of David Shankbone‘s Flickr Page – Public Domain License
