TopFlash Harry Belafonte A life that spanned a century and inspired significant social change
Harry Belafonte , who stormed the pop charts and broke racial barriers in the 1950s with his very personal brand of folk music , and who became a dynamic force in the civil rights movement , died on April 25 , 2023 at his home on Manhattan ' s Upper West Side from congestive heart failure , said Ken Sunshine , his longtime spokesman . He was 96 years old . At a time when segregation was still widespread and black faces were still rare on screens big and small , Mr . Belafonte ' s rise to the top echelon of show business was historic . He was not the first black artist to transcend racial boundaries ;
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Flashmag ! issue 140 April 2023
Louis Armstrong , Ella Fitzgerald and others had risen to fame before him . But none had made as much noise as him , and for a while , no one in music , black or white , was bigger . Born in Harlem to West Indian immigrants , he almost single-handedly sparked a craze for Caribbean music with hit records like " Day-O ( e Banana Boat Song )" and " Jamaica Farewell ." His album " Calypso ," which included these two songs , reached the top of the Billboard album chart shortly after its release in 1956 and stayed there for 31 weeks .