 Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte was born in New York City on 1 March 1927, and
moved as a child with his family to Jamaica, where he lived for
five years. 
He then returned to New York to attend the George
Washington High School, although he never completed his education.
In 1944 he joined the US Navy for a two year tour of duty.
After his discharge, while working as a maintenance man,
Belafonte received two tickets to an American Negro Theater
production - his first introduction to legitimate theatre.
He
later became a member of the American Negro Theater with his very
close friend, Sidney Poitier, and eventually joined the Drama
Workshop. In one of the Workshop productions, Belafonte's role called
for him to sing one number.
He was asked to sing at the Royal
Roost, a New York night club and signed to a two-week contract -
which ran for five months!
Belafonte went on to become a popular pop singer but was
unhappy and quit the industry to open a small restaurant in
Greenwich Village. During an impromptu performance at the
restaurant, he decided to return to show business, but as a folk
singer.
In 1950 he began appearing at the Village Vanguard
nightclub performing a repertoire of old and new folk ballads.
This led to a recording contract with RCA Records and the
opportunity to appear in two motion pictures - Bright Road
and Carmen Jones. His third film was Island In The
Sun (1957).
In 1957, Belafonte scored a notable success with the
million-selling Banana Boat Song which he followed up
with the singles Mama Looka Boo Boo and Mary's Boy
Child, which topped the British Hit Parade.
Devoted to the fight against injustice, Harry Belafonte became
the first member of the entertainment industry to be named as a
cultural adviser to the Peace Corps by President Kennedy, working
closely with Peace Corps members both in America and abroad. He
has been a leading architect of the civil rights movement while
continuing to tour the world spreading his own kind of gospel.
Belafonte achieved widespread attention for his political views
in 2002 when he began making a series of comments criticising
President George W. Bush, his administration and the Iraq War.
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