Singer, political activist Harry Belafonte passes away aged 96
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Harry Belafonte dies due to congestive heart failure after a long career winning 2 Grammies and topping it off with radical anti-imperialism and civil right activism.
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Singer and political activist Harry Belafonte speaks at Late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's weekly address in El Consejo, Venezuela, January 2006. (REUTERS)
Harry Belafonte, who built a career in entertainment, passed away at the age of 96 on Tuesday.
The singer had major global hit songs such as Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) and he pursued a career in acting, which earned him a Tony award in 1954.
Congestive heart failure was identified as the cause of Belafonte's death. The actor comes from a working-class family in Harlem, New York and his parents are of Jamaican origin where Belafonte spent eight years of his childhood.
Belafonte was mentored by Dr. Martin Luther King, whose daughter shared a picture of the singer at her father's funeral. Bernice King said that the late star "showed up for my family in very compassionate ways. In fact, he paid for the babysitter for me and my siblings."
His debut album came out in 1954 after many years of hard work which saw the star work as a janitor among other non-art-related jobs. The album featured a collection of traditional songs and his second album topped the US Billboard album chart in March 1956.
In his third major work, 'Calypso', Belafonte integrated his Jamaican heritage, selling a million copies in the US, which makes him the first artist to do so.
Belafonte received two Grammy awards during his long illustrious career and a Lifetime Achievement Grammy as well as the Academy's President's Merit Award.
A radical within the US entertainment scene
To top off his outstanding career, the singer was known for his activism in the civil rights movement which sought to end the systematic racism that African Americans face in the US.
The star worked diligently on campaigns aimed against poverty, apartheid, and AIDs in the African continent.
He was also a staunch supporter of Latin American revolutionaries such as Venezuela's Hugo Chaves and Cuba's Fidel Castro, who brought social justice to their nations and fought off US imperialism.
The actor is known for having a radical stance on American foreign policy, in comparison to his peers. In his meeting with Late President Hugo Chavez in 2006, Belafonte blasted then-President George Bush, stating that he is "the greatest terrorist in the world."
Belafonte has also described the token black secretaries of state Clon Powell and Condoleezza Rice as slaves who worked in their master's house rather than fields.
The superstar's political criticism encompassed former US President Barack Obama as he categorized the first Black President's policies on Guantanamo Bay among many other issues as lacking.
