RIP to one of the greatest souls of our time, Harry Belafonte - Actor, singer, civil rights activist
Born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. March 1, 1927 in Harlem, NY to Jamaican parents, Harry attended Wolmer's from 1933 to 1940. Among his many accolades, his 1956 album, Calypso, became the first LP record (of any kind) to sell over a million copies, and introduced the world to calypso music.
After listening to Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?", a charity song done to assist in famine relief in Ethiopia, Belafonte decided to have an American version done to assist in the same effort. He enlisted Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson to write the song, while numerous pop superstars of the day were enlisted to lend their support to what we now know as USA for Africa, with the song "We Are The World" raising more than $63 million towards famine relief. After a long night of recording the song in January 1985, we see a lighthearted moment when the stars spontaneously break out into singing "The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)". It is clear from his reaction that Belafonte was touched by the moment ❤️
