From: "Dik de Heer" Date: Sat Mar 1, 2003 2:07 am Subject: Born To Be With You : Harry Belafonte HARRY BELAFONTE (By Steve Walker) Born Harold George Belafonte, Jr., 1 March 1927, Harlem, New York City, New York Harry Belafonte's fame supersedes his musical career. He is a celebrated performer: singer, actor, political figure. His following spans generations and he is a major draw on the concert circuit. He has been honoured by the American Jewish Congress, the NAACP, The Urban League, the National Conference of Black Mayors, the Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'rith, the ACLU, the U.S. State Department and the Peace Corps. He has received such awards as the Albert Einstein Award, UNICEF's Danny Kaye Award, the Martin Luther King Peace Prize, and the Kennedy Centre Honours for excellence in the performing arts. He was the first recipient of the Nelson Mandela Courage Award. He was born in New York in 1927, of West Indian extraction (father from Jamaica, mother from Martinique). Things were not easy at home. The family was poor, and his father was often absent and, ultimately, abandoned them. At the age of nine, his mother packed him off to Jamaica, where he remained for several years. At age 17, he joined the United States Navy for a two-year stint. He then settled in New York, where he became involved in the American Negro Theatre and the Dramatic Workshop, where his classmates included Marlon Brando and Tony Curtis. But Belafonte had something of a problem: "Broadway only had Uncle Tom parts for me". In 1950 he established himself with a singing residency at Miami's Five O'Clock Club. Top 40 hits of the time included "The Tennessee Waltz" by Patti Page, Red Foley's "Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy", "Good Night, Irene" by The Weavers, and "Come On-a My House" by Rosemary Clooney. Belafonte was competing with Billy Eckstine, Billy Daniels, Nat King Cole, Tony Martin, and Frankie Laine. He made some recordings, pop hits of the time like "A Farewell to Arms". Apparently he was on the fast track to success. But he wasn't happy. One night, he walked out and never looked back. "In those days Miami had curfews for Negroes. I had to have special transportation after hours, special accommodations, special bathrooms, special everything. To cross from the coloured section of town to the white, I had to show a pass. I began to think. Why should I be giving up my rights and dignity for this kind of thing, for something I didn't like anyway." He returned to New York and, with friends, opened a hamburger joint (The Sage) in Greenwich Village. The Sage catered to "a select group of indigent Village-ites, jazz musicians, dope addicts, theatre people, alcoholics, folk singers, and hoods." On weeknights, The Sage closed its doors at 2 am and Harry would lead after-hours sing-songs, sometimes even inviting in curious passers-by. It was during this time that he began to explore folk music. He began working with theatrical agent Jack Rollins, who rehearsed him as a folk singer, and got him bookings. It was Rollins who encouraged him to find his own style, as opposed to imitating Josh White, Burl Ives, or Richard Dyer-Bennet, all popular folkies of the time. Rollins became his first manager. He began performing at the famous Village Vanguard. By 1951-52, Belafonte already had his trademarks in place. An early review read: "Harry moves and tears his way through a remarkable variety of songs - Negro and Brazilian Negro, American Whhite and European - the best of the music that man has made...". By 1954 he had established himself as a recording artist at RCA (with a hit single, "Matilda") and a film star ("The Bright Road", "Carmen Jones"). But it was the release of the album "Calypso" in 1956 that put him firmly at the top. "Calypso" sold 1,500,000 copies, a massive hit for it's time. It also cemented him as "The King of Calypso", a title he resisted for some time. To this day, his biggest hit "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)", so wonderfully satirised by Stan Freberg, is still the first thing people think of when they hear the name Harry Belafonte. That same year (1956) saw his biggest acting role to date in "Island in the Sun", in which he played Joan Fontaine's love interest (this was controversial stuff in 1956, and met with harsh reactions in some circles). Though Belafonte did not win much praise from the critics as an actor, the songs (which appear on "Belafonte Sings of the Caribbean"), especially the title track, scored him more hits (Belafonte himself was harshly critical of all of these films). By the early 60's he had become one of the biggest, possibly the biggest, black performer in America at that time. This was no small thing: only Sidney Poitier, Dionne Warwick and Bill Cosby probably even came close, and Belafonte was by far the most politically outspoken. Into the 60's, Belafonte became more and more musically adventurous, recording albums of gospel, field hollers, MOR material and protest songs. He was quoted as saying "Anyone who tries to stop me with nonsense about what is or isn't commercial is in for a fight." Anyone who heard his "Swing Dat Hammer" album, which must have sent calypso fans running for the hills, knows he meant it. Meanwhile, he remained politically active, working as cultural adviser to the Peace Corps (under Kennedy), taking part in the march on Washington, chairing the New York State Martin Luther King Jr. Commission and founding the Institute for Non-Violence. In later years he would be named to the Board of Directors of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador hosting the United Nations World Summit for Children. When Nelson Mandela visited the U.S., Harry Belafonte played host. As the 60's closed out, Belafonte pretty much stopped recording. He continued to appear in occasional films ("The World, The Flesh and The Devil"; "Uptown Saturday Night"). He continued touring and remained highly visible. In the 80's he was one of the chief instigators in the "We Are the World" charity recording. In 1988 he recorded his first album in many years, "Paradise in Gazankulu", an excursion into African pop. While the album was not the hit Belafonte may have hoped for, and went virtually ignored by critics, the songs were good and several of them remain in his stage show. Belafonte remains fiercely critical of the American establishment as seen from the perspective of a black American, a recent example of which can be seen at: http://www.drudgereport.com/hb.htm Websites: for a contemporary picture of Harry Belafonte (taken two weeks ago), try: http://www.belafonte-asiteofsites.com/ The site from which most of the above information was taken is at: http://www.bayarea.net/~floor13/music/harry.htm and contains some early pictures of him (handsome bastard), plus a complete album discography. Recommended listening: plenty to choose from here: http://w1.871.telia.com/~u87125666/hbdisc3.htm A year ago, on the occasion of Belafonte's 75th birthday, Bear Family released a 5 CD-set called "Island In The Sun : The Complete Recordings 1949-1957" (BCD 16262).