Harold George “Harry” Bellanfanti, Jr. is a singer, songwriter, actor and social activist born on 1st March, 1927 in Harlem, New York City USA, and as Harry Belafonte is one of the most successful Caribbean American pop stars in history, a three times Grammy Award winner, as well as an Emmy Award and a Tony Award winner, and the recipient of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Belafonte has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 1987, and most recently a critic of the George W.Bush and Barack Obama policies.

Have you ever wondered how rich Harry Belafonte is? According to sources it has been estimated that Harry Belafonte’s overall net worth is $28 million, as of mid-2016, accumulated primarily thanks to his extremely successful musical career since the late 1940s. However, since he is still active in the media, his net worth continues to grow.

Harry Belafonte Net Worth $28 Million

Born the oldest son of Caribbean immigrants, Harry grew up in New York City. His parents divorced when he was a young child and he was sent to Jamaica, where he lived with his relatives for a while. It was then that he first saw the oppression of blacks by the authorities, which made a big impact on him. In 1939, Belafonte returned to New York to live with his mother, who struggled in poverty. After he dropped out of high school, Harry enlisted in the US Navy in 1944, serving in the Pacific until the end of World War II, when he returned to New York to work a series of jobs before finding inspiration in an American Negro Theater performance he attended. This sparked Harry to become an actor, so he studied drama at the Dramatic Workshop run by Erwin Piscator, where one of his classmates was Marlon Brando.

Belafonte went on to appear in numerous American Negro Theater plays, but his big break came after he impressed Monte Kay while singing for a class project, and was then offered a chance to perform at the “Royal Roost” jazz club. Alongside his talented colleagues – musicians Charlie Parker and Miles Davis – Harry became popular in the club as well, making it to his first recording deal in 1949. However, by 1950 Harry had changed his musical style, favoring folk instead of popular music. He avidly studied traditional folk songs from around the world, and appeared in New York folk clubs. Belafonte debuted on Broadway in 1953 with his performance in “John Murray Anderson’s Almanac”, in which he sang several of his own songs, earning a Tony Award for his performance. His net worth was rising.

It was the mid ‘50s when Harry started his film career, appearing in his first movie “Bright Road” in 1953, and soon in Otto Preminger’s “Carmen-Jones”, in which he portrayed soldier Joe for which he received an Academy Award nomination. This success made Belafonte a star and he soon became a music sensation too. He released his “Calypso” album in 1956, which featured his view on traditional Caribbean folk music and introduced America to a new genre of music; the album sold one million copies.

Apart from his film and music career, Belafonte became the first African-American television producer. His later career included several other films and albums that didn’t achieve as much success as the previous. In 1995 he starred with John Travolta in “White Man’s Burden” which turned out to be a commercial disappointment.

However, Belafonte found his inspiration in activism. Harry met Martin Luther King in the 1950s and the two became good friends. He was next to King on many of his speeches, and participated in numerous protests and rallies.

Belafonte started supporting African artists in the mid-60s and led an effort to help people in Africa in the 1980s. He raised funds for those struck by famine in Ethiopia by recording the song “We Are the World” with several other famous artists like Michael Jackson, Lionel Ritchie, Ray Charles, Diana Ross and Bruce Springsteen. The song was released in 1985 and raised millions of dollars. Belafonte is UNICEF’s goodwill ambassador and a strong critic of the current political system and regime in America.

When it comes to his private life, Harry has married three times. He has two daughters from his first marriage to Marguerite Byrd(1948-57), two children from his second marriage to dancer Julie Robinson(1957-2008), and a daughter with his wife Malena Mathiesen, who he married in 2009.

Terry Steven Lewis was born on the 24th November 1956 in Omaha, Nebraska USA, and together with his partner Jimmy Jam, he forms a team of music producers and songwriters. They rose to fame in the early 1980s with several artists, especially Janet Jackson. Terry and Jimmy won five Grammy Awards yet it is worth saying that they were nominated for the above mentioned award 11 times. The two have been active in show business since 1982.

How rich is the music producer and songwriter? Authoritative sources estimate that the total size of Terry Lewis’ net worth is as much as $50 million, as of the data presented in the middle of 2016. Music is the main source of Terry Lewis’ wealth.

Terry Lewis Net Worth $50 Million

Initially, Lewis and Harris alongside Jellybean Johnson and Monte Moir founded their music group Flyte Tyme while still at high school – for a wider audience this band was known as The Time. They had released the albums “The Time” (1981) and “What Time Is It?” (1982), before Harris and Lewis decided to pursue their careers in the sphere of music production. The Time appeared as the opening act while touring with Prince and the Revolution, unfortunately, they were fired from the tour because they were unable to rejoin because of bad weather conditions. However, soon they returned to the industry as the producers of The SOS Band – the songs they produced including “Just Be Good to Me” became a huge success. Soon, they became very popular, and under the name of Flyte Tyme Productions, the two produced many musicians including Patti Austin, Gladys Knight and Thelma Houston. Lewis’ net worth was well established.

In 1985, the producers met Janet Jackson who at that time was trying to pursue her career away from her famous siblings – The Jacksons and Michael Jackson were international superstars already. Janet Jackson’s third album “Control”, was very successful for both the producers and the singer, with all three winning a Grammy Award. Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam produced six more albums with Jackson; some of them were even more successful than “Control”.

Afterwards, Jimmy and Lewis founded a private label Perspective Records in the early 1990s. They worked with such famous artists as Ann Nesby, Bobby Ross Avila, Sounds of Blackness, Smooth, Solo, Mint Condition as well as Lo-Key?. They also produced Michael Jackson, Boyz II Men, Gwen Stefani, Usher , Mary J. Blige as well as Mariah Carey. At the beginning of 2008 Terry and Jimmy reunited as the band “The Time” for the first time since the separation; in the middle of 2008, they played a number of concerts in various places in Las Vegas, USA.

To make all things clear, Jimmy and Terry are successful producers who have 41 songs that reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, and 31 on the Top 10 in the UK.

Finally, Terry Lewis was married to the popular singer Karyn White, and they have a daughter. However, the couple is divorced.