Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Belafonte on March 1, 1927 in Harlem, New York, United States) is a Jamaican-American calypso musician, actor and outspoken liberal who used his fame as an entertainer in the induced of human being rights.

He is perchance better known for singing a "Banana Boat Song," composed by Alan Arkin, with its signature lyric "Day-O." His breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was the number One album to sell concluded 1 million copies. He was a foremost African-American to win an Emmy, with his foremost solo TV favorite “tonight using Belafonte”.

From either 1935 to 1939 he lived with his mother inside her native land Jamaica. While he returned to New York he attended George Washington Senior high school fallowing which he joined a navy and served during a second world war. At a prevent of the 1940s he took classes in acting & later received the Tony Award for his participation in ''John Murray Anderson's Almanac''. He was an early supporter of the Civil Rights Movement in the nineteen fifties & one of Martin Luther King's confidants. Within 1968, Belafonte appeared on the Petula Clark primetime special in NBC. Midmost of the song, Clark smiled & briefly touched Belafonte's arm, which processed a indicate's sponsor, Plymouth Motors, nervous. It wanted to cut retired a section however Clark, world health organization experienced ownership of a favorite, told NBC that the song aired intact or even she wouldn't allow her favorite to exist as aired the least bit. Plymouth's demands manufactured a national newspapers & once a favorite aired, it grabbed high viewing numbers. Clark's gesture marked a number 1 instance where deuce populatiin of different races mass produced friendly bodily email on US television.

Within 1985 he was one of a organizers behind a grammy award winning song We Are The World, a multi-artist effort to raise funds for Africa, & performed in the Live Aid concert that same season. Within 1987 he was appointed as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador. Inside 2002 Africare awarded him the Bishop John T. Walker Distinuished Humanitarian Service Award for his efforts to assist Africa.

Belafonte has gained ill fame for his left wing political views. He appeared on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and performed a controversial "Mardi Gras" number with footage intercut from either a 1968 Democratic National Convention riots. Further recently, he appeared in Democracy Now! where he quoted the civil era icon Malcolm X:

On a morning radio show in San Diego, California, in October 2002, Belafonte used that quote to characterize both former and current United States Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice as "house slaves" for their behavior and refusal to stand up against the decision of President George W. Bush to go to war with Iraq according to his War on Terrorism plan. (He was implying that, by going along with Bush's plans, the two were serving their master and thus were allowed to live in the house with the master rather than on the "plantation.")

In 2005, he referred to Black Republicans "tyrants" and compared those serving in the Bush administration to nazis. He also compared the Bush administration to the Third Reich, and said "Hitler got much of Jews" in his regime.

He has won a Grammy Award in 2000 for lifetime achievement.

His daughter, Shari Belafonte, is a photographer, model and actress.

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Filmography
Bright Road (1953) Carmen Jones (1954) The Heart of Show Business (1957) (short subject) 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) (short subject) 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)