Harry Belafonte, full name Harold George Bellanfanti Jr., was born in the United States on March 1st, 1927. He is a musician, activist, and actor. The son of Jamaican-born chefs Harold George Bellanfanti Sr. and housekeeper Melvine, Belafonte was born in Harlem, New York.
He may have been the most well-known Caribbean-American pop performer of the 1950s, but he introduced the Trinbagonian Calypso musical genre to a worldwide audience. His seminal album Calypso (1956) went platinum, making it the first LP by a single artist to sell one million copies.
Belafonte started his musical career in New York as a club performer to help pay for his acting classes. The Charlie Parker group, which featured Miles Davis, Max Roach, and other musicians, supported him as he performed in front of an audience for the first time.
The song “Matilda,” which Belafonte released as his first widely distributed single on April 27, 1953, would go on to become his “signature” song for crowd participation in almost all of his live appearances. His iconic 1956 album Calypso was the first record to sell over a million copies in a calendar year. According to him, it was the first album to sell a million copies in England.
How many times did Harry Belafonte marry?
Harry Belafonte was married three times.
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