Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an internati ...
and
Irving Burgie
Irving Louis Burgie (July 28, 1924 – November 29, 2019), sometimes known professionally as Lord Burgess, was an American musician and songwriter, regarded as one of the greatest composers of Caribbean music.Island in the Sun'' and on his 1957 album ''
Belafonte Sings of the Caribbean
''Belafonte Sings of the Caribbean'' is an album by Harry Belafonte, released by RCA Victor (LPM-1505) in 1957.
It followed his album of calypso music, '' Calypso'' (1956), which was a major commercial success in the United States, spending over ...
''.
Background
The song was one of two songs (the other song being "Lead Man Holler") written by Harry Belafonte and Irving Burgie for the 1957 film ''Island in the Sun'', a film on racial tension and interracial romance. The song serves as the title song sung at the start of the film, which ends with Belafonte walking off to the humming of the song. Belafonte performed the song on ''
The Ed Sullivan Show
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...
'' in June 9, 1957 to promote the film. It was also released as a single backed with "Cocoanut Woman" in May 1957; both songs charted, and "Island in the Sun" reached No. 30 on the ''Billboard''s Best Sellers in Stores, and No. 42 on Top 100 Sides.
In 2017, Belafonte released the album ''When Colors Come Together: The Legacy of Harry Belafonte'' for his 90th birthday with the intention of fostering racial harmony, which included a new version of "Island in the Sun" titled "When Colors Come Together (Our Island in the Sun)" performed by a multi-ethnic children choir.
Adaptation
In 1999, the song was adapted into a children's picture book, illustrated with cut-paper collages by Alex Ayliffe and published by
Dial Books
The Dial Press was a publishing house founded in 1923 by Lincoln MacVeagh.
The Dial Press shared a building with ''The Dial'' and Scofield Thayer worked with both. The first imprint was issued in 1924.
Authors included Elizabeth Bowen, W. R. Bu ...
. The book was an Américas Award commended title and received generally positive reviews.
Charts
Other versions
The song has also been covered by many artists, including
The Merrymen
The Merrymen, sometimes written as The MerryMen, are a popular calypso band from Barbados.
The Merrymen's career spans five decades, from the early-1960s to the 2000s. The Merrymen are still performing as of 2011.
At their height they were popu ...
,
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras Coll (; born 5 December 1946), better known as José Carreras (, ), is a Spanish operatic tenor who is particularly known for his performances in the operas of Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini.
Born in Barcelona, he made his de ...
,
The Paragons
The Paragons were a ska and rocksteady vocal group from Kingston, Jamaica, initially active in the 1960s. Their most famous track was "The Tide Is High", written by band member John Holt.
Career
The Paragons were originally Garth "Tyrone" Ev ...
, and
The Righteous Brothers
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Lo ...
.
In 1962, the song was performed by
The Brothers Four
The Brothers Four is an American folk singing group, founded in 1957 in Seattle, Washington, and known for their 1960 hit song "Greenfields."
History
Bob Flick, John Paine, Mike Kirkland, and Dick Foley met at the University of Washington, wher ...
Henri Salvador
Henri Salvador (18 July 1917 – 13 February 2008) was a French Caribbean comedian, singer and cabaret artist.
Biography
Salvador was born in Cayenne, French Guiana. His father, Clovis, and his mother, Antonine Paterne, daughter of a native C ...
wrote lyrics and sang the song in French.
Caterina Valente
Caterina Valente (born 14 January 1931) is a French multilingual singer, guitarist, and dancer of Italian ethnicity. Valente is a polyglot; she speaks six languages, and sings in eleven. While she is best known as a performer in Europe, Valent ...
performed the song in German as "Wo meine Sonne scheint ".
Bo-Göran Edling wrote lyrics in Swedish, and as ''De tusen öars land'', the song was recorded by the Streaplers, releasing it as a single in October 1969 with ''En enda kort minut'' acting as a
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
. and their version also charted at
Svensktoppen
''Svensktoppen'' () is a weekly record chart airing at Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982-1985. The last years before the January 2003 cha ...
for 19 weeks between 28 December 1969-4 May 1970, and managed to top the chart. With these lyrics the song was also recorded in 1970 by
Nora Brockstedt
Nora Brockstedt (20 January 1923 – 5 November 2015) was a Norwegian singer.
In her last years, she focused more on the jazz genre, with successful albums like ''As Time Goes By'' (JazzAvdelingen, 2004) and ''Christmas Songs'' (JazzAvdelin ...
, by Tage Öst in 1976, and Källströms in 1985 and finally in 2005 by Hans Martin.
With lyrics in Swedish by Margot Borgström, as ''Sol, öar, vind och hav'', the song was also recorded by
Schytts
Schytts is a Swedish dansband, established in 1962
Events January
* January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand.
* January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism.
* January ...
on the 1979 album '' Nya änglalåtar'' and their version charted for 10 weeks at Svensktoppen between 13 April-24 August 1980, and also managed to top the chart.
The Croatian version sung by
Darko Rundek
Darko Rundek (Zagreb, January 30 1956) is a Croatian rock singer, songwriter, poet, and actor. His music career started in the early 1980s, as the frontman of the world music influenced rock band Haustor. He emigrated to France after the Yug ...
was recorded in 2000 for album ''U širokom svijetu''Darko Rundek - U širokom svijetu /ref> (rereleased in 2017 on compilation ''ApoCalypso'')