Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte at a concert in Berlin in 1983.

Harry Belafonte (1927-2023) was a New York City singer (born of Jamaican parents) who, despite racial barriers, ascended to the upper echelons of the pop music world in the 1950s and is remembered especially for calypso songs such as “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”, "Matilda", and “Jamaica Farewell", and for his renditions of tender ballads such as "Scarlet Ribbons". He appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1955. He befriended Martin Luther King Jr. and became a dedicated civil rights activist from the 1960s til the end of his life.