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American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized Caribbean calypso music globally and became a cultural icon.Born in Harlem to Jamaican immigrants, Belafonte rose to fame in the 1950s with groundbreaking albums like 'Calypso' (1956), the first LP to sell over a million copies. He broke racial barriers in film and theater, won Emmy/Grammy/Tony awards, and was a key strategist/fundraiser for the Civil Rights Movement.

• Worked as a janitor's assistant before studying drama, where classmates included Marlon Brando and Sidney Poitier.
• Financed the 1961 Freedom Rides, bailed Martin Luther King Jr. out of Birmingham Jail, and funded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
• Organized the multi-platinum charity single 'We Are the World' (1985) and served as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for 36 years.
• Faced FBI surveillance for decades due to his activism and was blacklisted during the McCarthy era.
• Died of congestive heart failure at 96, survived by four children including actress Shari Belafonte.