Harry Belafonte, American singer, actor, and activist, died this morning, Tuesday, April 25th. He was 96. Belafonte’s publicist, Ken Sunshine, told CNN that he died of congestive heart failure.

The Caribbean America pop star welcomed Jamaican mento folk songs to America in the 1950s. His breakout album, Calypso, did just that, bringing in over a million listeners for his LP. He’s best known for the singing The Banana Boat Song with its iconic Day-O lyric. The singer also had a hand in acting, starring in Carmen Jones and Island in the Sun. Belafonte was also an extremely involved activist.

In 1927, Harold George Bellafanti Jr. was born in Harlem, New York to Jamaican-American parents. His father worked as a chef, and his mother a housekeeper. Later on, he fell in love with the theater after attending the American Negro Theater in Harlem. Belafonte began his career as a club singer to pay for acting classes in the late 1940s. Not much later he released Calypso where he sold over a million copies worldwide, other albums followed. But his contributions to music are only a part of his legacy.

Paul Robeson, singer, actor, and civil rights activist, served as Belafonte’s mentor in activism. In the 1960s, Belafonte became John F. Kennedy’s cultural advisor to the Peace Corps. He was also one of MLK’s confidants, often providing for him financially and bailed him out of Birmingham Jail. The icon was also a part of the Freedom Rides, supported voter registration, and helped organized the 1963 March on Washington.

But that’s not all he did. A friend of Nelson Mandela’s, he led a campaign against apartheid in South Africa, mobilized support for HIV and AIDS, and was a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He even helped organize the song We Are The World to help raise funds for Africa. His contributions to society are vast and were ongoing throughout his life.

The legacy of Harry Belafonte (1927-2023) will never be forgotten. May he rest in peace.