The King Of Calypso is about as frivolous and inappropriate a moniker for Harry Belafonte as possible. With the calypso and hits like “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” in the Fifties, he certainly attained international success and highly advantageous financial muscle, but Belafonte never felt comfortable with that unsolicited soubriquet.
In reality, Belafonte was America’s first black superstar, with a flourishing career as actor, singer, entertainer, producer and performer that lasted more than half a century. Belafonte achieved an extraordinary number of firsts: he was the first artist to sell more than a million LPs; the first black man to win an Emmy; the first Afro-American television producer.
