The American singer, actor and entertainer Harry Belafonte at a press event in Dresden in 2015.
(Photo: Arno Burgi/dpa)
American singer and actor Harry Belafonte has died at the age of 96. This was initially reported by the New York Times and cites Ken Sunshine, his longtime spokesman.
Belafonte was one of the most well-known black artists in the USA in the 1960s. His 1956 album “Calypso” was the first record to sell more than a million copies – the record was not surpassed until 1982 by Michael Jackson’s album “Thriller”. The son of a sailor from Martinique and a Jamaican laborer, who grew up in a New York ghetto, was also involved in the American civil rights movement and spoke out politically to the end.
More soon on SZ.de