Internationally acclaimed Jamaican-American Calypso singer, actor and renowned civil rights activist Harry Belafonte has died.

Belafonte died on Tuesday at home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan at age 96.

According to his spokesperson, the cause of the crooner’s death was congestive heart failure.

Born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. in March 1, 1927, Belafonte was famed for hit songs that rules the airwaves such as the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition leader Raila Odinga’s favourite Jamaica Farewell, Day-O(The Banana Boat Song), Mary’s Boy Child, among other successful hits.

Apart from Calypso, Belafonte did not shy away from recording and performing other genres, including blues, folk, gospel and many more

His dynamic nature saw him star in films such as Carmen Jones (1954), Island in the Sun (1957), and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959).

Belafonte was also a vocal civil rights activist and was a close confidant of the late Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement.