AMY WINEHOUSE FOUNDATION
Harry Belafonte Joins Tony Bennett
To
Burnish Amy Winehouse Legacy
STORY BY NINA BOXER
PHOTOS BY TIM BOXER
ARRY BELAFONTE
reveled in a bit of history at the Amy Winehouse Foundation
Inspiration Awards in March in the Starlight Roof of the
Waldorf-Astoria.
"This hotel," he said, "is a
racist piece of history."
The King of Calypso told how
he was hired in the 1950s by the Waldorf events organizer Claude
Philippe, "a wonderful French Jew," who was trying to
desegregate the world’s most famous hotel.
"When the hotel board of
directors realized that Belafonte wasn’t some Frenchman on the loose
in the tradition of Maurice Chevalier, they went ape shit.
"They rushed to cancel my
booking, but agent Lew Wasserman wouldn’t let them. They
tried to fire Claude Philippe but he had an ironclad contract. So
they put me in the Starlight Roof (18 floors up) to avoid racial
contamination in the lobby’s Empire Room."
Belafonte encouraged all his
friends in Manhattan’s Harlem and Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant to
come see him at the hotel. "It was a sea of black folk."
"Now I have the right to stay
in any Hilton in the world for free," Belafonte said with a wide
smile, "as long as I keep my mouth shut and not tell the story."
And here he was, a half
century later at age 86, back in the Starlight Roof, this time to
introduce Tony Bennett, also 86, to receive a lifetime
achievement award at the first annual Amy Winehouse Foundation
Inspiration Awards. As Bennett made his way to the stage Belafonte’s
cane dropped to the floor with a thud. "There goes my teeth,"
Belafonte quipped.
"Amy’s dream was to become
famous and a beautiful singer," Bennett said. "Even though she had a
short life, she had a great life. She prayed for success and it
happened."
Winehouse earned five Grammy
Awards for Back to Black. She and Bennett won a Grammy Award
last year for their duet Body & Soul.
Winehouse, who struggled for
years with drug and alcohol addiction, died on July 23, 2011, of
accidental alcohol poisoning. She was 27 years old. Her parents,
Mitch and Janis, established the foundation in her memory
to aid young people in similar circumstances. They hope to establish
a drug rehab center for addicted youths.
Dancer Loreen Arbus
read a letter from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg praising
the foundation’s mission.
"Thanks to Mayor Bloomberg
for that very nice message," Mitch said. "It would be better if he
had sent $10 million."
Society columnist
Catherine Saxton, key to the success of the gala, received
plaudits for her organizational skills. "Catherine did a wonderful
job," Mitch said. "She is such a force in this world," Arbus added.
Oscar/Grammy winner
Jennifer Hudson belted songs like And I Am Telling You I’m
Not Going and The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face. For
his part, Bennett offered classics like Watch What Happens
and Maybe This Time. Needless to say, the ballroom shook with
standing ovations.
Next up for Bennett will be
to record a duet with pop diva Lady Gaga, 26, for a big swing album.
