Harry Belafonte was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte's career breakthrough album Calypso was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.
Belafonte was best known for his recordings of "Day-O", "Jump in the Line", "Jamaica Farewell", and "Mary's Boy Child". He recorded and performed in many genres, including blues, folk, gospel, show tunes, and American standards. He also starred in films such as Carmen Jones, Island in the Sun, Odds Against Tomorrow, Buck and the Preacher, and Uptown Saturday Night. He made his final feature film appearance in Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman.
Belafonte considered the actor, singer, and activist Paul Robeson to be a mentor. Belafonte was also a close confidant of Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and acted as the American Civil Liberties Union celebrity ambassador for juvenile justice issues. He was also a vocal critic of the policies of the George W. Bush and Donald Trump administrations.