Singer-actor Harry Belafonte, who broke racial barriers in the United States, has died at his home in New York's Manhattan. He was 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).

His greatest achievement was his campaign for black civil rights in the US.

Belafonte 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 said.

"Your being here on Earth has blessed us all," Wimfrey added.

Belafonte was born in New York's Harlem in 1927, the son of poor Caribbean immigrants.

A high school dropout, he joined the Navy during the Second World War, working as a munitions loader at a base in New Jersey.