American singer Harry Belafonte has died of congestive heart failure at the age of 96, his spokesman has confirmed.
The civil rights icon was pronounced deceased at his home in the Upper West Side of Manhattan on Tuesday.
Belafonte made a splash in Hollywood in the 1950s, becoming a star with his hit songs Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) and Jump in the Line.
That success ultimately led to leading roles in films like Carmen Jones and Island in the Sun.
But as he became more and more of a household name, Belafonte started to speak out against the racism he experienced in Hollywood as he described himself as a singer of music with ‘roots in the black culture of American Negroes, Africa and the West Indies.’
American folk singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, pictured in 1956, has died of congestive heart failure
Belafonte befriended civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr early in his career. They are pictured together at New York’s Kennedy International Airport…