Harold George Belafonte was an American singer and actor. He was best known for one of his greatest hits, Banana Boat Song, and by his work as a Unicef Ambassador.
Belafonte was born in New York, where he grew up in Harlem. From 1935 to 1939 he lived with his mother in Jamaicafor her native country. After his return to New York followed Belafonte the George Washington High school. Then, he joined the u.s. Navy, where he served during the Second World War. At the end of the 1940s he took acting classes.
Belafonte married in 1948 with Marguerite Byrd, they had two daughters and divorced in 1955. In 1956 married Belafonte with you Robinson, they had a son and a daughter.
In the early 1950s , he was an early member of the civil rights movement. Belafonte was a confidant of Martin Luther King. When he was in 1968 in a television show of Petula Clark occurred, Clark laughed while singing a moment and hit Belafontes arm. Despite protests from sponsor Plymouth Motors, the show was still broadcast. It was the first time on American television was to see how people of different races touch each other amicably.
Belafonte was in 1985 one of the organizers behind the song We are the world by USA for Africa; an attempt by many artists to raise money for Africa. It was performed in the Live Aid concert of that year. In 1987 , he was appointed goodwill Ambassador for Unicef.
Belafonte is known for its left wing political views. Referring to a famous quote by Malcolm X was Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice in 2002 as "house slaves" because they are not rebelled against George w. Bush 's decision to go to war against Iraq. In 2005 he called black Republicans "tyrants" and compared the members of the Bush administration with nazi's.
Albums[]
- Mark Twain & Other Folk Favorites (1954)
- Belafonte (1955)
- Calypso (1956)
- An Evening with Harry Belafonte (1956)
- Belafonte Sings Of The Caribbean (1957)
- To Wish You A Merry Christmas (1957)
- Belafonte Sings Of The Blues (1958)
- Love Is A Gentle Thing (1959)
- Porgy & Bess (1959)
- Belafonte At Carnegie Hall (1959)
- My Lord What A Mornin (1960)
- Swing That Hammer (1960)
- Belafonte Returns To Carnegie Hall (1960)
- Jump In The Line (1961)
- Midnight Special (1962)
- The Many Moods Of Harry Belafonte (1962)
- Streets I Have Walked (1963)
- At The Greek Theatre (1964)
- Bues Ballads And Boasters (1964)
- An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba (1965)
- An Evening with Belafonte/Nana Mouskouri (1966)
- In My Quiet Room (1966)
- "Gränslös Kväll På and (1966)
- Calypso In Brass (1966)
- Belafonte On The Campus (1967)
- Belafonte Sings Of Love (1968)
- Homeward Bound (1969)
- Harry and Lena in Love (1970)
- Belafonte By Request (1971)
- Calypso Carnival (1971)
- Belafonte Live (1972)
- Play Me (1973)
- An Concert In Japan (1974)
- Turn The World Around (1977)
- Loving You Is Were I Belong (1981)
- Künstler für den Frieden (1982)
- We Are the World (1985)
- Paradise Or Ganzankulu (1988)
- Belafonte 89 (1989)
- An Evening with Belafonte and Friends (1997)
- The Long Road to Freedom, An Anthology of Black Music (2001)
Filmography[Edit][]
- Bright Road (1953)
- Carmen Jones (1954)
- The Heart of Show Business (1957)
- Island in the Sun (1957)
- The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959) (also producer)
- Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
- King: A Filmed Record ... Montgomery to Memphis (1970) (documentary) (Narrator)
- The Angel Levine (1970) (also producer)
- Buck and the Preacher (1972) (also producer)
- Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
- Sometimes I Watch My Life (1982) (documentary)
- Say No (1983) (documentary)
- Three Songs (1983)
- We Shall Overcome (1989) (documentary) (Narrator)
- The Player (1992) (cameo)
- Ready to Wear (1994) (cameo)
- Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream (1995) (documentary)
- White man's Burden (1995)
- Jazz ' 34 (1996) (documentary)
- Kansas City (1996)
- Scandalize My Name: Stories from the blacklist (1998) (documentary)
- Fidel (2001) (documentary)
- XXI Century (2003) (documentary)
- Bobby (2006)
- Motherland (2009) (documentary)
- Sing Your Song (2011) (documentary)
- Hava Nagila (2013) (documentary)