Harry Belafonte Biography

Fast Facts

• Spent a good deal of his childhood in Jamaica
• Enlisted in the Navy after a learning disability caused him to discontinue his high-school education
• Was encouraged by his mentor and fellow entertainer Paul Robeson to urge an audience to join in singing songs with him
• Cinematic debut was in the 1953 drama Bright Road
• Made recording history in 1956 when his third album, Calypso, sold more than one million copies
• It was the first 33 1/3 rpm LP by a solo artist to sell one million copies
• The LP included the hits "Day-O (Banana Boat Song)" and "Jamaica Farewell
• " Became the first African-American TV producer with 1960's Tonight With Harry Belafonte; the program won an Emmy
• Appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador to UNICEF in March 1987
• Recipient of many accolades including Kennedy Center Honors in 1989, National Medal of the Arts in 1994 and BET Humanitarian Award in 2006