Actor/singer/civil-rights icon Harry Belafonte died at age 96 of congestive heart failure, according to Yahoo!
Among the most honored performers of his era, Belafonte won two Grammy Awards (and the Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000), a Tony and an Emmy. He also received the Motion Picture Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Governors Awards ceremony in 2014 as well as a Kennedy Center Honor in 1989 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.
But even though he succeeded musically ("The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)") and on screen (with the film Carmen Jones), his biggest successes came as a key strategist, fundraiser and mediator for the civil-rights movement, CNN noted. Among many other things, Belafonte led a campaign against apartheid in South Africa and befriended Nelson Mandela. He mobilized support for the fight against HIV/AIDS and became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He also came up with the idea for recording the 1985 hit collaborative song "We Are the World."
In 2013, Belafonte was grand marshal at the NYC Pride Parade and upheld his duties by waving the Pride flag during the celebration, according to People Magazine.
Andrew Davis