June 2, 1956: Harry Belafonte Releases "Calypso"

June 2, 1956: Harry Belafonte releases his album Calypso. It makes him one of the biggest stars in America.

Harold George Bellanfanti, Jr. was born on March 1, 1927 in Manhattan. His parents were Caribbean immigrants. One of his grandfathers was a Dutch Jew. In other words, he was ingrained in America's, and indeed in New York City's, history before he could understand what that meant. He found out, and embraced it.

He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II. Upon his return, he met Sidney Poitier, another struggling young Caribbean-American actor then. Unable to afford one tickets to plays, they would purchase one, one would see the first act, tell the other about it at intermission, and the other would see the second act, and tell the first man about it afterward.

In 1952, after singing with Charlie Parker (whose band then included Miles Davis and Max Roach), he got a recording contract. In 1954, he starred with Dorothy Dandridge in Carmen Jones, an adaptation of Georges Bizet's Carmen with an all-black cast.

In 1956, Calypso, with its Caribbean themes, became the 1st album by a soloist to sell over 1 million copies. Many of its songs were written and arranged by William Attaway, a black novelist and songwriter. Some were written by Irving Burgie, a songwriter known as Lord Burgess.

"Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" became one of the most familiar songs in the world, turned into parodies and sports-team chants all over the world. "Jamaica Farewell" became a standard. So did "Man Smart (Woman Smarter)," with its chant that "The woman is... smar-ter! Smarter than the man in ev-e-ry way!"

Amazingly, Belafonte was able to record and release a song titled "Brown Skin Girl," which, like "Man Smart (Woman Smarter)," was written by traditional calypso singer Norman Span. Even more amazing, he got away with recording a song titled "The Jack-Ass Song," co-written by Burgess and Attaway.

Grownups, already sick of rock and roll and hoping it was just a fad, were hoping that calypso would be the fad that chased rock and roll away. It didn't, although Belafonte had more hits in the style, including "Mama Look at Bubu," and many groups recorded the Caribbean-inflected "Marianne."

In early 1957, Belafonte released the album An Evening With Belafonte, which had more traditional songs like "Hava Nagila" (spelled "Hava Nageela" on this album), "Danny Boy" and "Shenandoah." On December 10, 1959, his TV special "Tonight with Belafonte" aired on CBS. This special, also featuring black singers Odetta, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, made him the 1st black person to win an Emmy Award.

Naturally, he went into the Civil Rights Movement, and was at the March On Washington in 1963. He's never stopped singing or fighting, and is probably wondering why he still has to do this stuff at age 90. His daughter, Shari Belafonte, also became a renowned actor.

UPDATE: He died on April 25, 2023.

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June 2, 1956 was a Saturday. Baseball star Pedro Guerrero was born. And These baseball games were played:

* The New York Giants lost to the Cincinnati Redlegs (as the Reds were known from 1953 to 1959), 5-2 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Reds scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to win it. Rookie Frank Robinson went 1-for-3. Willie Mays went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers were swept in a doubleheader by to the Chicago Cubs, 8-1 and 5-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. In the opener, Don Kaiser outpitched Carl Erskine. In the nightcap, Bob Rush outpitched Don Newcombe, though Newcombe went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Over the 2 games, Ernie Banks went 2-for-9. Duke Snider went 1-for-6 with 2 walks. Jackie Robinson did not play in either game.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 11-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams went 0-for-4.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 15-0 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Herb Score struck out 13, but walked 8, keeping a 3-hit shutout, and outpitching George Stone. Eddie Yost had 2 of the Senators' hits, and future Hall-of-Fame manager Whitey Herzog had the other.

Sam Mele, who went on to manage the Senators franchise, as the Minnesota Twins, to the 1965 American League Pennant, went 3-for-5 with a home run, a walk, and 4 RBIs. Jim Hegan hit a grand slam. Vic Wertz and rookie Rocky Colavito also homered for the Tribe.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Braves, 4-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Roberto Clemente did not play. Hank Aaron went 0-for-3 with an RBI.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 6-4 at the first Busch Stadium (formerly the last Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Richie Ashburn went 2-for-4 with a walk and 3 RBIs. Stan Musial went 1-for-5.

* The New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers were rained out at Yankee Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Tigers swept, 6-3 and 7-4. Billy Hoeft went the distance for the win in the opener, while Whitey Ford didn't get out of the 5th inning. Yogi Berra did not play.

Don Larsen started the nightcap, and got home runs from Yogi and Eddie Robinson, but Tom Morgan fell apart in the top of the 10th inning. Over the 2 games, Mickey Mantle went 2-for-8, and Al Kaline went 1-for-7 with 3 walks and an RBI.

* And the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox were rained out at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. This game was also made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The White Sox swept, 12-0 and 9-2. Dick Donovan pitched a 7-hit shutout in the 1st game. Dave Philley and Sherm Lollar each had 4 hits.

January 28, 1985: "We Are the World" Is Recorded

January 28, 1985: "We Are the World" is recorded in Los Angeles. It is the American response to the British recording of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and its fundraising for relief for the famine in the African nation of Ethiopia.

It was produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian. It was the idea of singer, actor and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte, after he'd heard the British single.

Officially, the name of the "performer" on the Columbia Records single release was "USA for Africa." The song was listed as having been written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, at Havenhurst, the Jackson family home in the Los Angeles suburb of Encino, California. One particular note is the changing of an original lyric: "There's a chance we're taking, we're taking our own lives." Jackson wasn't satisfied with that, and Jones suggested, "There's a choice we're making, we're saving our own lives."

The first tracks for recording were laid down on January 22, 1985, at Lion Share Recording Studio in Los Angeles, owned by country superstar Kenny Rogers. The main session was on January 28, at A&M Recording Studios in Hollywood.

A sign taped to the studio door read: "Check your ego at the door." Stevie Wonder greeted the musicians as they entered, and said that if the recording was not completed in one take, he and Ray Charles, two blind men, would drive everybody home. They began at 10:30 PM, Pacific Time (1:30 AM, January 29, Eastern Time). The singers were as follows:

* First verse: Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner and Billy Joel.

* First chorus: Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

* Second verse: Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson and Al Jarreau.

* Second chorus: Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry of Journey, and Daryl Hall.

* Bridge: Michael Jackson, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper and Kim Carnes.

* Third, fourth and fifth choruses: Everybody, with Bob Dylan coming in for the second half on the fourth and fifth chorus.

* Sixth chorus: Ray Charles.

* Seventh chorus: Stevie and Bruce.

* Eighth chorus: Everybody... and so on.

* Backing vocalists, in alphabetical order: Dan Aykroyd, Harry Belafonte, Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac, Sheila E., Bob Geldof (it seemed natural to invite him, as the starter of it all), music producer Bill Gibson; Jackie, La Toya, Marlon, Randy and Tito Jackson; Waylon Jennings, Bette Midler, Daryl Hall's usual singing partner John Oates, Jeffrey Osborne; Anita, June and Ruth Pointer; Smokey Robinson; and, from Huey Lewis' band, The News, Mario Cipollina, Johnny Colla, Chris Hayes and Sean Hopper.

Louis Johnson of The Brothers Johnson played bass guitar. From the band Toto, David Paich and Steve Porcaro played synthesizers. In addition, keyboards were played by Omartian, John Barnes, Michael Boddicker, Ian Underwood from Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention; and Greg Phillinganes, who was then Michael Jackson's musical director, and had also worked with Stevie Wonder and Toto. John Robinson played drums, as he had previously for Jackson on the albums Off the Wall and Thriller, both with Quincy Jones producing. Brazilian musician Paulinho da Costa played percussion.

The session is as interesting for who didn't participate as for who did. There was no lead guitarist. Paul Simon was there, but not his former singing partner Art Garfunkel. Lindsay Buckingham was invited, but none of his former Fleetwood Mac bandmates were. No acts identified primarily with disco were involved.

Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson had worked together many times, and, later in 1985, would form The Highwaymen with Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson; however, despite their own previous (and later) charity work, neither Cash nor Kristofferson was involved on this occasion. Nor was any other act usually considered "country," including Dolly Parton.

Despite the heavy Motown Records presence, there were no members of the Temptations or the Four Tops; and, sadly, Marvin Gaye had been killed the year before. Bonnie Pointer had left The Pointer Sisters in 1977, and did not participate. Given Jackson's affinity for Elvis Presley, it has to be considered that, had Elvis lived, he would have been invited.

Aside from the courtesy to Geldof, it was all American acts, so there were no Canadian singers like Neil Young or Geddy Lee of Rush. Nor were Young's occasional singing partners David Crosby (American), Stephen Stills (Canadian) and Graham Nash (British), nor Nash's former girlfriend Joni Mitchell (Canadian).

Madonna, probably then too new a star, was not invited. Nor was any member of Van Halen, despite Eddie Van Halen having played on Jackson's "Beat It." Nor was any other act considered to be "heavy metal," or any act considered to be "punk" or "New Wave." Prince was invited, but the reason he didn't participate is disputed, from his ego getting in the way to his being miffed that Geldof had once called him "a creep."

Eddie Murphy was then the biggest comic actor in the world, and was close with both Michael and Stevie, but he turned it down because he was working on something else, and later said, "After I realized what it was, I felt like an idiot."

John Denver, whose charitable bona fides had long been established, asked to participate, and was turned down, because his style was considered too light for a "pop-rock anthem." He said, "It broke my heart not to be included."

It's often forgotten that there was an entire album, titled We Are the World, which Columbia released on April 1. Side One: "We Are the World"; "If Only for the Moment, Girl," by Perry; "Just a Little Closer," by The Pointer Sisters; "Trapped," Springsteen's cover of a Jimmy Cliff song; and "Tears Are Not Enough," by Northern Lights.

Side Two: "4 the Tears in Your Eyes," Prince; "Good for Nothing," Chicago, with lyrics by Richard Marx; "Total Control," Tina Turner; "A Little More Love," Kenny Rogers; and "Trouble in Paradise," by Huey Lewis.

"We Are the World" was released as a single on March 7, just 38 days after being recorded, and sold over 20 million copies, winning 4 Grammy Awards. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" sold 12 million. In spite of the fundraising of both songs, much of the money was converted not into food for the starving, but into guns and other amenities for the ruling party. In the end, Ethiopia, which had 40 million people before the famine started, lost 1.2 million people to death by starvation, and 400,000 people fled the country. The Communist regime collapsed in 1991, but the country has been in civil war on and off ever since.

Aretha Franklin, enjoying something of a comeback in 1985, was not involved in recording the song, although she led a performance of the song, along with Jackson, Jones, Ross and Rogers, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, as part of the ceremonies honoring the Inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1993.

A&M Studios is now part of Jim Henson Studios. The building is still standing, at 1416 North La Brea Avenue, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.

Waylon Jennings died in 2002, Ray Charles in 2004, June Pointer in 2006, Michael Jackson in 2009, Louis Johnson in 2015, Al Jarreau in 2017, James Ingram in 2019, Kenny Rogers in 2020. As of January 28, 2022, the rest are still alive.

UPDATE: Anita Pointer died in 2022. Harry Belafonte and Tina Turner died in 2023. Tito Jackson and Quincy Jones died in 2024.

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January 28, 1985 was a Monday. Jermaine Lamarr Cole, the rapper known as J. Cole, was born.

Baseball was out of season. Football season had ended 8 days earlier, when the San Francisco 49ers beat the Miami Dolphins in the Super Bowl. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 117-91 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Houston Rockets, 97-93 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena is now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 111-109 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas. Mark Aguirre scored 49 points for the Mavs.

* And the Denver Nuggets beat their arch-rivals, the Utah Jazz, 104-100 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.

And there was 1 game in the NHL: In "the Battle of Alberta," the Edmonton Oilers beat the Calgary Flames, 4-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. The Flames led, 3-2, but Paul Coffey scored with 1:20 left in regulation, and Mike Krushelnyski scored with 2 seconds left.