Harry Belafonte – 1927

Harry Belafonte is one of the most successful Jamaican-American pop stars, popularizing the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style in the 1950s with an international audience. He is also an actor, singer, songwriter, and activist. His 1956 album Calypso was the first LP by a single artist to have sold a million copies. He’s best known for recording The Banana Boat Song, having its signature lyric Day-O.

As an activist, Belafonte was a close confidant of the late Martin Luther King Jr. in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. He has also been a UNICEF ambassador since 1987. Belafonte also received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 6th Annual Governors Awards of the AMPAS—a remarkable career to a great degree.