Five-time Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo has become the first African musician to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with her legacy immortalised at a ceremony in Los Angeles on Tuesday, per bbc.com.
The 66-year-old singer from Benin was honoured for a career spanning more than four decades, during which she has taken African sounds to global audiences by fusing West African styles with funk, jazz, pop and R&B.
Kidjo said the star affirmed her belief that the world is a small village. “It doesn’t matter where we come from, what language we speak, which skin colour we have. We are human. It’s one human family,” she said at the unveiling.
She added: “We Africans just don’t know what we’ve given to the world, and what we continue giving to the world for the music to exist. Without us, there’s no music possible on this planet.”
She was joined by family, friends and guests including actors Willem Dafoe and Djimon Hounsou, who is also from Benin, and Nigerian musician Adekunle Gold. The ceremony featured singing and dancing in celebration of her career.
Dafoe described Kidjo as “without a doubt the hardest working woman in showbusiness,” likening her energy to soul singer James Brown. He said she was not only a performer, songwriter and musician but also a “kind and giving person and a real deal activist”.
Kidjo grew up in Benin and moved to Paris in 1983, citing oppression under the country’s then-communist government. She has since released 18 albums and received 17 Grammy nominations, winning five.
Her latest album, HOPE!!, was released earlier this year with production by Pharrell Williams and collaborations with Ayra Starr, Quavo, Nile Rodgers and Diane Warren. Her previous collaborators include Burna Boy, John Legend, Bono and Alicia Keys.
She was awarded the 2023 Polar Music Prize and was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in 2021. She is a Unicef and Oxfam goodwill ambassador and co-founder of the Batonga Foundation, which supports vulnerable young women and girls in Benin.
Harvey Mason Jr, chief executive of the Recording Academy, which oversees the Grammys, said Kidjo had connected cultures and crossed borders and that her music unites audiences from different backgrounds.
Kidjo joins white South African actress Charlize Theron in representing Africa on the Walk of Fame, which comprises more than 2,800 stars.
The Walk of Fame honour places Kidjo, widely regarded as one of Africa’s most influential vocalists, among a small group of African-born entertainers recognised on Hollywood Boulevard, underscoring the growing global influence of African music.
•Featured image: Angélique Kidjo/EPA