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*Presented in partnership with William Morris Agency
Harry Belafonte is known as "the consummate entertainer." He is also famous for his leadership in the struggle for human rights, both in America and abroad. His work as an actor and internationally respected concert performer, central figure in the Civil Rights Movement and UNICEF's Goodwill Ambassador has earned him legendary status.
Belafonte was born in New York in 1927, but spent his childhood in Jamaica, where he was exposed to the music and culture that would shape his development as an artist. After a tour of duty with the US Navy in World War II, Belafonte returned to New York to pursue acting at the legendary New School of Social Research, alongside such greats as Marlon Brando and Tony Curtis.
His celebrated singing voice was discovered at a school production, and soon Harry Belafonte made his debut as a vocalist at the Royal Roost in Harlem in the late 1940s, with a backing band that included Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. The extraordinary range of Belafonte's talents led him from the uptown stages of Harlem to the burgeoning folk scene of Greenwich Village, singing Caribbean and American folksongs alongside Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. Belafonte signed with RCA Victor in the 1950s and produced some of the 20th century's best known classics, including "Day-O (Banana Boat Song)," "Islands in the Sun" and "Matilda." Belafonte's album “Calypso” was the first album to attain platinum, or million-selling status. Since those early days, Belafonte's career as a singer has brought him acclaim from virtually every corner of the globe.
Harry Belafonte's love of acting never kept him far from the stage and screen. He won a coveted Tony award for his very first performance on Broadway in "John Murray Anderson's Almanac." He was television's first black producer. Belafonte, along with close friend Sidney Poitier, was one of the most sought after black actors in Hollywood. Oscar Hammerstein's adaptation of Bizet's Carmen Jones is among his greatest films. More recently, Harry Belafonte starred in the reverse-racism drama “White Man's Burden” and Robert Altman's "Kansas City."
The work of Harry Belafonte the entertainer cannot overshadow his enormous influence as one of the 20th century's leading human rights activists. Belafonte was one of the driving forces of America's Civil Rights Movement and a close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King said of Belafonte: "His global popularity and his commitment to our cause is a key ingredient to the global struggle for freedom and a powerful tactical weapon in the Civil Rights Movement here in America." Upon Dr. King's death, Harry Belafonte was one of the appointed executors of his estate, and continues to further Dr. King's legacy today.
By the 1980s, Harry Belafonte had joined the struggle for international human rights. He helped coordinate USA for Africa, served as advisor to the Peace Corps and was a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, only the second American ever to hold this position. Recently, Belafonte was honored by the Kennedy Center and received the National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton. He received the Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2000 and the National Medal of the Arts in 1994.
The year 2001 saw the release of a very special project for Harry Belafonte. “The Long Road to Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music” was recorded in the 1960s but languished in RCA's vaults until now. This box set brings together many strands of Belafonte's work: support of black music and the arts, as well as a political and social acknowledgement of the contributions of black culture to American society.
Now in his seventies, Harry Belafonte continues to sing, act, and work for good causes.
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