Harry Belafonte, the groundbreaking singer and actor who became a civil rights icon, has died, his publicist confirmed to CBS News. He was 96.
Belafonte, an acclaimed screen and stage performer also remembered for his trailblazing mainstream success in the 1950s music industry, died of congestive heart failure on Tuesday morning at his home in New York City, his longtime publicist Ken Sunshine said.
Many still know Belafonte for his 1950s signature hit “Banana Boat Song (Day-O).” But even before he won global fame as an entertainer, he saw himself as part of a grand tradition of artists who use their voices for change. His role model was Paul Robeson, the singer, actor and activist whose career was derailed by McCarthyism.
In 2018, CBS News’ Vladimir Duthiers sat down with Belafonte, who drew a direct line from his years traveling the world with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., back to something Robeson told him when he was just starting out.
“He said, artists are the gatekeepers of truth. He said only through the world of the arts do we know who and what we are in the history of civilization,” Belafonte told Duthiers. “Long before historians. Long before people ascribe themselves as the caretakers of life and culture.
“The song did that, and in the black community, it was our primary tool of communication. So I saw the song as having something far more than something to delight audiences and people could dance and sing. It had content, and I began to see this content of black protest music.”