Bewitching voice and charming physique, Harry Belafonte, nicknamed “the king of calypso”, rose to fame in the 1950s and marked his time with his humanitarian convictions and his fight for civil rights in the United States.
The iconic singer died on Tuesday at the age of 96, several American media reported.
Born in Harlem on March 1, 1927 to a Jamaican mother and a Martinican father, the singer spoke for these rhythms with “Matilda”, “Day-O”, “Island in the Sun”, “Jamaica Farewell”, “Try to Remember” or “Coconut Woman”.
It was as a child, when he lived in Jamaica, that George “Harry” Belafonte discovered calypso, a music with West African influences born in the carnivals of Trinidad and Tobago, which will seduce the American public with its exoticism.
Returning to the United States, he joined the Black Theater in Harlem after the war and staged several plays with his lifelong friend Sidney Poitier, before embarking on music where his charisma and his vocal qualities brought him rapid success, which would be the springboard for its commitment against racial segregation.
First a singer of ballads in cabarets, he made his mark in the early 1950s with a popular repertoire that mixed influences from American variety, Caribbean music and black culture from Harlem.
In 1955, he triumphed with the title “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” and the album “Calypso” (1956) became the first in history to sell more than one million copies.
He filled the halls and his recordings, including six Gold Records, were a worldwide success and earned him several Grammy Awards in 1960.
At the same time, Belafonte notably played in “Carmen Jones” by Otto Preminger (1954), “Le coup de l’escalade” (Robert Wise, 1959), “Kansas City” by Robert Altman (1996), “Buck et son accomplice” , by and with Sidney Poitier (1972) and “Bobby” (Emilio Estevez, 2006) on the assassination of Bob Kennedy.
He became the first black actor to play, in 1957, a love story with a white actress in Robert Rossen’s “An Island in the Sun”, and also the first African-American to produce a television show and win an Emmy award. (1959).
But the young man is not content to be a symbol. Quickly, he finances the campaign for civil rights and becomes close to Martin Luther King Jr.
“When people think of activism, they always think it involves sacrifice, but I’ve always seen it as a privilege and an opportunity,” he said in a 2004 speech at Emory University.
In 1963, he raised 50,000 dollars, the equivalent of almost 500,000 today, to get out of Martin Luther King prison, at a time when artists were pocketing comfortable incomes.
“I could have made 2 or 3 billion and ended up with some cruel addiction, but I chose to be a civil rights fighter instead,” he explained in an interview with the Guardian in 2007.
Suspicious of politicians, he had met John Kennedy in 1960, inviting the then presidential candidate to his home.
He was initially unconvinced by the senator seeking support, later reporting that Kennedy “knew very little about the black community.”
But once elected, “JFK” appoints him cultural attaché of the Peace Corps. Later, in 1987, he was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for Unicef.
He spent time in Africa, notably in Kenya, and campaigned against apartheid in South Africa. In 1988, he dedicated his last album “Paradise in Gazankulu” to this cause.
He is the main promoter of “We are the World” sung, in 1985, by 45 American artists raising funds to fight against the famine in Ethiopia.
After opposing the war in Iraq, in 2006 he accused President George W. Bush of being a “terrorist”, no better, according to him, than Osama bin Laden.
He also takes controversial positions, getting angry with the heirs of Martin Luther King who notably criticize his admiration for the Venezuelan Hugo Chavez, or reproaching in 2012 the wealthy black couple Jay Z and Beyoncé for having “turned their backs on social responsibilities” .
The dyslexic artist, who was not betting on success after dropping out of high school, serving in the army or working as a janitor, was showered with prestigious awards at the end of his life.
Thus, in 2014, the Academy awarded him an honorary Oscar because “from the start of his career he chose projects highlighting racism and inequalities”.
Married three times, Harry Belafonte had three daughters and a son from his first two wives.
04/25/2023 17:04:31 – New York (AFP) – © 2023 AFP