Harry Belafonte receives honorary Berklee doctorate
BOSTON (AP) — Boston's Berklee College of Music has presented an honorary doctor of music degree to singer, songwriter and activist Harry Belafonte...
BOSTON (AP) — Boston’s Berklee College of Music has presented an honorary doctor of music degree to singer, songwriter and activist Harry Belafonte.
The entertainer was honored Thursday night during a concert in his honor. He playfully stuck out his tongue upon receiving the degree.
Berklee students and faculty performed the celebration of Belafonte’s life and music, from “Banana Boat Song” to “We are the World.”
Belafonte was a confidante of Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. In the 1980s he helped start the USA for Africa project to fight hunger, and also pushed for an end to apartheid in South Africa.
Other recipients of Berklee’s honorary doctorate have included Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Steven Tyler, Willie Nelson, Aretha Franklin and Quincy Jones.
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