Harry Belafonte, singer, actor, and activist, has passed away at 96. According to a spokesperson that spoke with The New York Times, he passed due to congestive heart failure.

A true icon Belafonte was known as the “King of Calypso” with his chart hit “The Banana Boat Song (Day-O).” He won over hearts as an actor in the film “Carmen Jones,” starring him and Dorothy Dandridge.

Although he entertained the world, he loved the people and, throughout his life, continued for their rights as an activist, many times alongside Dr. Martin Luther King.

“Whenever we got into trouble or when tragedy struck, Harry has always come to our aid, his generous heart wide open,” Coretta Scott King later said in her memoir.

Belafonte was a recipient of many awards, like the Kennedy Center Honors, in 1989, in 2000,  a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and The National Medal Of Arts in 1994.

“What I’ve always been looking for: Where resides the rebel heart?” Belafonte replied. “Without the rebellious heart, without people who understand that there’s no sacrifice we can make that is too great to retrieve that which we’ve lost, we will forever be distracted with possessions and trinkets and title.