Harry Belafonte, center left, stands with Berklee College of Music President Roger H. Brown, center right, after receiving an honorary doctor of music degree at the Berklee Performance Center in Boston, Thursday, March 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
March 06, 2014 - 7:18 PM
BOSTON - Boston's Berklee College of Music has presented an honorary doctor of music degree to singer, songwriter and activist Harry Belafonte.
The entertainer was honoured Thursday night during a concert in his honour. 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.
News from © The Associated Press, 2014