Harry Belafonte, a transformational figure in American entertainment and activism, died at the age of 96 at home in Manhattan on April 25. The figurehead in popularizing calypso in America in the mid-‘50s, Belafonte became the first artist to sell a million copies of a full-length album. Belafonte the activist also marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Civil Rights era and championed causes like the anti-Apartheid movement.
Thanks to 30 studio albums in wildly varied genres, acclaimed film, TV, and theater work, and decades of live performances, Belafonte’s impact on the world was bigger than music, but his distinctive baritone on songs like “Day-O (The Banana Boat
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