Harry Belafonte passed away on April 25, 2023 at the age of 96, leaving behind more than 40 albums filled with songs about love in its broadest sense. He was considered the King of Calypso, a crooner with a devastating smile, and also an actor who expressed his political concerns about the fight for civil rights, for which he was very active for five years, paving the way for other artists.

We will remember the 1963 March on Washington for Civil Rights, in which Harry Belafonte was accompanied by Sidney Poitier and Charlton Heston, and about 300,000 people participated, all united behind Martin Luther King and many other illustrious personalities of that time.

In 1985, he was also behind “We Are The World,” inspired by Bob Geldof, among others, in response to the famine that was killing a part of the African population. He married three women during his life, the last being photographer Pamela Frank in 2008.
Between 1953 and 1960, he could also be seen in musical comedies, and one last time in 1987 with “Asinamali” at the Jack Lawrence Theatre in New York. His political engagement is also evident in nearly twenty films in which he appeared between 1949 and 2018, including Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman”.

Harry Belafonte also collected an incomparable list of awards, including the latest, the Legion of Honor medal from the French Embassy in the United States, which he received and greatly deserved.
It is difficult to summarize in a few lines such an important figure who will remain in the memory of humanity. His films and music will continue to survive well beyond his earthly life…

Thierry De Clemensat
USA correspondent
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