In this file photo taken on February 12, 2011 US singer Harry Belafonte addresses a press conference about the movie “Sing Your Song” by director Susanne Rostock in Berlin on the third day of the international Berlinale film festival. (PHOTO / AFP)
NEW YORK – Harry Belafonte, a singer, songwriter and groundbreaking actor who started his entertainment career belting “Day O” in his 1950s hit song “Banana Boat” before turning to political activism, has died at the age of 96.
Belafonte died of congestive heart failure at his home in New York on Tuesday with his wife Pamela by his side, the firm of his longtime spokesperson Ken Sunshine said in a statement.
As a Black leading man who explored racial themes in 1950s movies, Belafonte would later move on to working with his friend Martin Luther King Jr. during the U.S. civil rights movement in the early 1960s. He…
