RIP Harry Belafonte

He was a civil rights activist, an award-winning singer and actor and he has held a place in my heart from the time I was a kid. Harry Belafonte died this week at the age of 96.

From a very early age, I remember hearing Belafonte’s voice coming out the speakers in my parent’s basement. My dad had an impressive vinyl collection and Harry Belafonte was a part of that collection.

The first I remember is the 1956 release, Calypso. It was the first Long Play record album to sell over one million copies. It contains his most famous song, “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”. There are other gems on this album including “Jamaica Farewell” and “Man Smart (Woman Smarter)”.

The next was his live, double album, Belafonte at Carnegie Hall. Recorded over two nights in 1959, the concerts were benefits for The New Lincoln School and Wiltwyck School, respectively. It was a spectacular live performance. An artist in his prime in front of an excited crowd each night. The highlight for me (as a kid and now) is the 12-minute version of “Matilda” (which set the standard for audience participation. If you don’t smile after listening to it, there’s something wrong with you.

The next memory of Harry Belafonte is of course, his appearance on The Muppet Show. I was nine-years old when it premiered. Belafonte performed his biggest hit, “Day-O” but it was his other two appearances “on stage” with the Muppets that were magical. First a drum battle with Animal. Both eventually “passed out” from sheer exhaustion.

The closing number of the show is the song “Turn the World Around”. Belafonte shares with Fozzie Bear about his inspiration for writing songs, specifically this number. He tells Fozzie of an African storyteller who spoke of African mythology, how the elements turn the world around. He tells of how there is very little difference in any of us, and we have to take the time out to understand each other. It remains my favorite Muppet Show memory ever and is a clip I’ll still watch with goosebumps.

Finally, it’s the use of “Day-O” in the remarkably hilarious dinner party scene from the Tim Burton film “Beetlejuice”. What fun it must have been to be a part of that film and that scene in particular.

Of course, we can’t talk about Harry Belafonte without touching on his activism and the amazing work he did. Early in his career, he befriended the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and became not just a lifeline friend but also an ardent supporter of Dr. King and the quest for racial equality. He put up much of the seed money to help start the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He took part in the March on Washington. In the 1980s, he helped organize a cultural boycott of South Africa as well as the Live Aid concert and the recording of “We Are the World”.

I’ve combed through dozens of obituaries and tributes online and what is very clear is that Belafonte was an inspiration to so many in the world. Forest Whitaker wrote this on Twitter: The world met Harry Belafonte when he shattered boundaries as a singer and an actor, but will remember him best as a brave and tireless activist for equality and justice. He was a light through the darkness.

Rest in power Mr. Belafonte. We are all better because of you.