Harold George "Harry" Belafonte Jr was born 1st March 1927 is an African American Singer, Song Writer, Actor and Civil Rights Activist. He was dubbed the " King Of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean Musical Style with an international audience in the 1950's with its signature lyrics "Day-O" Throughout his career he has been an advocate for Civil Rights and humanitarian causes. He was a vocal critic of the policies of the George W. Bush administration. Harold George Belafonte Jr was born at Lying-In Hospital in Harlem, New York. Belafonte was the son of Malvina a house keeper of Jamaican descent and Harold George Belafone Sr a Martinique boy who worked as a chef in the National Guard. From 1932 to 1940 he lived with his grand mother in Jamaica, when he returned to New York City he attended George Washington High School after which he joined the Navy and served during World War Two.
In the 1940's he was working as Junior Assistance in New York City when a tenant gave him as a gratitude two tickets to see the American Negro Theater. He fell in love with the art form ans also met Sidney Poitier. The financially struggling pair regularly purchased single seat to local plays trading places in between acts after informing the other about the progression of the play. At the end of the 1940's school in New York with the influential German Director Edwin Piscator alongside Marion Brando, Tony Curtis, Walter Mitthau and Sidney Poitier, while performing with the American Negro Theater he received a Tony Award.
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