Harry Belafonte, nicknamed "the king of calypso", rose to fame in the 1950s. The iconic singer died Tuesday at the age of 96, several US media reported.
He became the first black actor to play, in 1957, a love affair with a white actress in Robert Rossen's "An Island in the Sun" He raised $50,000, the equivalent of almost $500,000 today, to get Martin Luther King out of prison in 1963. He spent time in Africa, including Kenya, and campaigned against apartheid in South Africa.