Harold George “Harry” Bellanfanti, Jr. is a singer, songwriter, actor and social activist born on 1st March, 1927 in Harlem, New York City USA, and as Harry Belafonte is one of the most successful Caribbean American pop stars in history, a three times Grammy Award winner, as well as an Emmy Award and a Tony Award winner, and the recipient of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Belafonte has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 1987, and most recently a critic of the George W.Bush and Barack Obama policies.
Have you ever wondered how rich Harry Belafonte is? According to sources it has been estimated that Harry Belafonte’s overall net worth is $28 million, as of mid-2016, accumulated primarily thanks to his extremely successful musical career since the late 1940s. However, since he is still active in the media, his net worth continues to grow.
Harry Belafonte Net Worth $28 Million
Born the oldest son of Caribbean immigrants, Harry grew up in New York City. His parents divorced when he was a young child and he was sent to Jamaica, where he lived with his relatives for a while. It was then that he first saw the oppression of blacks by the authorities, which made a big impact on him. In 1939, Belafonte returned to New York to live with his mother, who struggled in poverty. After he dropped out of high school, Harry enlisted in the US Navy in 1944, serving in the Pacific until the end of World War II, when he returned to New York to work a series of jobs before finding inspiration in an American Negro Theater performance he attended. This sparked Harry to become an actor, so he studied drama at the Dramatic Workshop run by Erwin Piscator, where one of his classmates was Marlon Brando.
Belafonte went on to appear in numerous American Negro Theater plays, but his big break came after he impressed Monte Kay while singing for a class project, and was then offered a chance to perform at the “Royal Roost” jazz club. Alongside his talented colleagues – musicians Charlie Parker and Miles Davis – Harry became popular in the club as well, making it to his first recording deal in 1949. However, by 1950 Harry had changed his musical style, favoring folk instead of popular music. He avidly studied traditional folk songs from around the world, and appeared in New York folk clubs. Belafonte debuted on Broadway in 1953 with his performance in “John Murray Anderson’s Almanac”, in which he sang several of his own songs, earning a Tony Award for his performance. His net worth was rising.
It was the mid ‘50s when Harry started his film career, appearing in his first movie “Bright Road” in 1953, and soon in Otto Preminger’s “Carmen-Jones”, in which he portrayed soldier Joe for which he received an Academy Award nomination. This success made Belafonte a star and he soon became a music sensation too. He released his “Calypso” album in 1956, which featured his view on traditional Caribbean folk music and introduced America to a new genre of music; the album sold one million copies.
Apart from his film and music career, Belafonte became the first African-American television producer. His later career included several other films and albums that didn’t achieve as much success as the previous. In 1995 he starred with John Travolta in “White Man’s Burden” which turned out to be a commercial disappointment.
However, Belafonte found his inspiration in activism. Harry met Martin Luther King in the 1950s and the two became good friends. He was next to King on many of his speeches, and participated in numerous protests and rallies.
Belafonte started supporting African artists in the mid-60s and led an effort to help people in Africa in the 1980s. He raised funds for those struck by famine in Ethiopia by recording the song “We Are the World” with several other famous artists like Michael Jackson, Lionel Ritchie, Ray Charles, Diana Ross and Bruce Springsteen. The song was released in 1985 and raised millions of dollars. Belafonte is UNICEF’s goodwill ambassador and a strong critic of the current political system and regime in America.
When it comes to his private life, Harry has married three times. He has two daughters from his first marriage to Marguerite Byrd(1948-57), two children from his second marriage to dancer Julie Robinson(1957-2008), and a daughter with his wife Malena Mathiesen, who he married in 2009.
