Harry Belafonte, singer and civil rights activist, RIP

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Originally published at: Harry Belafonte, singer and civil rights activist, RIP | Boing Boing

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Everyone knows Day-O… here some of his other work:

Rest in power!

Pics from his life…

From Carmen Jones…

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Jumped in de last line, RIP:

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Just FYI, that isn’t him singing in that scene; it was some opera dude.

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Agh! Thanks! But will leave up the clip, cause he’s gorgeous…

Here ya go…

And an Irish classic…

And The Rose (which I know best from Bette Midler’s version)…

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Yeah, he was a really beautiful man; inside and out.

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Indeed!

And what range he had with his lovely voice…

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This was the song, and version of it, that popped into my head thinking of him.

IIRC, this Muppet show episode was the first time he sung, or at least sung some songs, on TV.

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i’m surprised that more obits are not mentioning that it seems very likely that Beetlejuice brought his music to a new generation, and continues to do so.

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Maybe because it’s not about a largely white, gen x audience, but about a well-known artist and activists? I’m promise that plenty of people knew who he was when that movie came out and did not need to be re-introduced to him.

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FFS.

I personally fluv that movie, but you sure as fuck don’t see me bringing it up right now.

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Agreed…

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true, but younger people likely won’t hear about his art or activism first. everyone has different entry points.

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maybe that was true of some white kids, but probably not true of kids who were raised in Black households.

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Facts; my kid absolutely knows about more about Harry Belafonte than just the Beetlejuice soundtrack:

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He was one of the greats!

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In 1968, he was a guest on a Petula Clark (of “Downtown” fame) TV special, where they sang a duet.

During the song, she grabbed his arm.

A sponsor rep demanded that they use another shot because he was worried that viewers in the South would be offended.

Clark and her husband refused, destroyed all the other takes, and the show was broadcast with the arm-grab, to no reaction at all from anyone.

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