Five-time Grammy Award winner Angélique Kidjo will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 18 at 11:30 a.m. PT at 7011 Hollywood Boulevard, becoming the first-ever African musician to achieve such a feat.
Angélique Kidjo, who first burst onto the global scene over four decades ago, will receive the 2,854th star. Kidjo will receive her star in the category of Recording. She will be joined by Harvey Mason Jr, a Primetime Emmy-nominated songwriter and producer, as well as Willem Dafoe, an Oscar-nominated actor, during the ceremony.
“Angélique Kidjo’s extraordinary artistry and global influence have inspired audiences across generations and continents. We are proud to honour her as the first African artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, recognising her remarkable contributions to music and culture around the world,” said Ana Martinez, Producer, Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In the last few years alone, the Africa-born artist has amassed a host of accolades proving her immense cultural impact, including winning the 2023 Polar Music Prize, landing on Time’s illustrious 100 Most Influential People list, and taking home a Grammy for Best Global Music Album for 2021’s Mother Nature (a feat that earned her Guinness World Record for most Global Music Album awards won at the Grammys, with five prizes to date).
Angélique Kidjo began singing at age 6 and has worked tirelessly to put Benin and Africa on the global stage.
Kidjo has passionately devoted herself to humanitarian work all throughout her career—an undertaking that’s included launching her own charitable foundation, Batonga (an organization dedicated to fostering the education of adolescent girls on the African continent), as well as advocating on behalf of children all over the world through her work as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador.
Over the years, she’s earned recognition as one of the 100 most inspiring women in the world (The Guardian) and the most influential woman in Africa (Forbes), in addition to winning the admiration of such prominent cultural figures as musician/actor/civil-rights activist Harry Belafonte, who commended Kidjo for “using her work and growing fame to change the way the world perceives Africa.”
With her countless achievements also including winning the 2016 Ambassador of Conscience Award from Amnesty International, Kidjo celebrated 40 years of music and activism with a star-studded special performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall in fall 2023.
She travels the world advocating on behalf of children in her capacity as a UNICEF and OXFAM goodwill ambassador. At the G7 Summit in 2019, President Macron of France named Kidjo as the spokesperson for the AFAWA initiative (Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa) to help close the financing gap for women entrepreneurs in Africa.