A defining figure of the last century, Harry Belafonte has died of congestive heart failure at the age of 96. He was at his home on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

His music and recording career began in the 1940s, but he became a mega-star with the release of his 1956 album, “Calypso,” which began a national craze for Caribbean music. Belafonte was born in Harlem in 1927 to a Jamaican mother and a father from Martinique. Belafonte spent a portion of his youth in Jamaica, which left a lasting influence on his musical style.

Before that, Belafonte made his Broadway debut in John Murray Anderson’s Almanac, winning the 1954 Tony Award for Featured Actor in a Musical. He returned to Broadway twice as a performer: in 1955 for 3 for Tonight and in 1959 for the concert event Belafonte at the Palace.

His screen career began in 1953 with a role in Dorothy Dandridge film Bright Road. The following year, he starred in the film adaptation of Oscar Hammerstein’s riff on Bizet, Carmen Jones. Other film appearances include The World, The Flesh and the Devil (1959), Buck and the Preacher (1972), and, as recently as 2018, BlacKkKlansman.

Belafonte’s most lasting legacy is in his tireless work for civil rights and social justice. He was a close friend and confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., becoming a major fund-raiser for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He also bailed King and other activists out of jail.

In 2015, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Belafonte the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. During his long career, be also won three Grammy Awards and a Primetime Emmy (for an appearance on The Revlon Revue), placing him among the small constellation of stars with EGOT status.

He is survived by his wife, Pamela, as well as his children Shari, Adrienne, Gina, and David.