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Harry Belafonte

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22:30

'Fresh Air' remembers Harry Belafonte, singer, actor and civil rights icon

Belafonte starred in films and helped popularize calypso music in the U.S. in the 1950s. In the '60s he became a civil rights activist. He died April 25. Originally broadcast in 1993.

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22:33

Actor and Singer Harry Belafonte

Actor and singer Harry Belafonte. He was born in Harlem and raised in the hills of Jamaica where he absorbed the song and music of the island life around him. Belafonte's first love was theater, however: he wasn't convinced that popular singing would take him as far emotionally as Shakespeare did. But by embracing the calypso music of his childhood he introduced it to America. This week, he performs his first public concert in New York City in over thirty years.

Black and white image of a young Harry Belafonte singing in a studio

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