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Harry Belafonte, the singer and actor who smashed racial barriers in the US, has died at home in Manhattan, aged 96.

One of the most successful African-American pop stars in history, he scored hits with Island In The Sun, Mary's Boy Child and the UK number one Day-O (The Banana Boat Song).
But his greatest achievements were as a campaigner for black civil rights in the US.

He died of congestive heart failure, said his spokesman Ken Sunshine.

His wife Pamela was by his side.

Oprah Winfrey was among the first to pay tribute, remembering Belafonte as "a trailblazer and a hero to us all".
 
"Thank you for your music, your artistry, your activism, your fight for civil rights and justice," she continued. "Your being here on Earth has blessed us all."

"We just have to thank God that we had Harry Belafonte for 96 years," said singer-songwriter John Legend, who counted Belafonte as a friend and mentor.

"He used his platform in almost a subversive way, because he would sneak messages in there, revolutionary messages, when people thought he was just singing about good times."

"He gave so much, lived through so much [and] helped us grow so much as a nation and as a world."