Angélique Kidjo becomes first African musician with Hollywood Walk of Fame star

By Zinhle Radebe

Angélique Kidjo has spent more than four decades taking the sounds of Africa around the world. Now, her name has a permanent place on Hollywood Boulevard.

The Beninese music icon became the first African musician and first Black African to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame during a ceremony in Los Angeles on Tuesday, August 18. 

Kidjo received the landmark’s 2,854th star in the Recording category, located at 7011 Hollywood Boulevard opposite the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

For the five-time Grammy winner, the moment was bigger than seeing her own name set into one of Hollywood’s most famous pavements.

“We Africans don’t know what we’ve given to the world,” Kidjo told the crowd, before declaring that music as we know it would not exist without Africa’s contribution.

A star bigger than Hollywood

Kidjo was joined at the ceremony by actor Willem Dafoe and Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr., who both spoke in her honour. Actor Djimon Hounsou, who was also born in Benin, and Nigerian singer Adekunle Gold were among those in attendance.

Dafoe recalled watching Kidjo turn seated audiences into dancing crowds, praising the generosity and joy she brings to the stage.

“She has an ability to bring people together in a celebration,” he said.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce described the honour as recognition not only of Kidjo’s career but of an artist who helped create pathways for African musicians now reaching global audiences. 

Walk of Fame producer Ana Martinez said Kidjo’s artistry had inspired listeners “across generations and continents”.

It is difficult to separate Kidjo’s star from the moment African music is having globally. 

Afrobeats and other sounds from the continent are filling arenas, crossing charts and reaching listeners far beyond Africa, but Kidjo was building those bridges long before the current boom.

Four decades without borders

Born in Benin, Kidjo began singing as a child before moving to France in the 1980s and building a career that would take African sounds across genres and continents.

“I started singing when I was six years old, and I’m grateful every day that I still get to live my passion and do what I love with my life,” Kidjo said.

Across more than four decades, she has moved between West African traditions, funk, jazz, R&B, gospel and Latin music, collecting five Grammys along the way and collaborating with artists including Alicia Keys, Burna Boy, Carlos Santana and Peter Gabriel.

That curiosity continues on her latest album, HOPE!!, where Kidjo works with a new generation of artists including Ayra Starr and Davido alongside Pharrell Williams, Nile Rodgers and others.

“With this album I wanted to put some fire back in people’s hearts and show how much we need that joy and hope to keep our humanity going,” she said.

She has served as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and founded the Batonga Foundation, which works with girls and young women in Benin and Senegal on education, leadership and economic empowerment.

Her honours include the Polar Music Prize, Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award and a place on TIME’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people.

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The door is open

Kidjo has previously spoken about what becoming the first means for the artists coming behind her.

“The door is open now to all of us,” she said earlier this year when discussing the Hollywood honour. 

“So let’s get to it.”

Kidjo’s name may be the first from African music permanently written into Hollywood’s famous pavement, but if the generation following the path she helped clear has anything to say about it, it should not stand there alone for long.

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