Actor and singer HARRY BELAFONTE. He was born in Harlem and raised in the hills of Jamaica where he absorbed the song and music of the island life around him. BELAFONTE's first love was theater, however: he wasn't convinced that popular singing would take him as far emotionally as Shakespeare did. But by embracing the calpyso music of his childhood he introduced it to America. This week, he performs his first public concert in New York City in over thirty years.
Copyright 1993 Fresh Air