Harry Belafonte

An activist, humanitarian, and actor as well as the designated "King of Calypso," Harry Belafonte ranked among the most seminal performers of the postwar era. After starring in films including 1954's Carmen Jones, a musical adaptation of the Bizet opera Carmen, his silken voice and masterful assimilation of folk, jazz, traditional pop, and rhythms of the Caribbean (his parents hailed from Jamaica and Martinique) took the Harlem, New York native to the top of the U.S. album chart in 1956. What became his signature tune, "The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)," was a Top Five hit in the ...