Angélique Kidjo Becomes First African Musician on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Angélique Kidjo, the five-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter from Benin, received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 18, 2026 — becoming the first African musician and the first Black African to earn the honour (Billboard).
The ceremony took place at 11:30 a.m. PT at 7011 Hollywood Boulevard, where Kidjo was unveiled as the recipient of the 2,854th star on the Walk of Fame. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, Ron Frierson, used the occasion to proclaim August 18 as Angélique Kidjo Day in Hollywood (Billboard).
Variety's Angelique Jackson hosted the event. Among those in attendance were actor Willem Dafoe, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr., actor Djimon Hounsou, and Nigerian singer Adekunle Gold (Billboard).
Kidjo's selection placed her in the Hollywood Walk of Fame Class of 2026, a group whose honorees were announced in July 2025 by Walk of Famers Eugenio Derbez and Richard Blade (Hollywood Walk of Fame).
Born in Benin, Kidjo has built a career spanning decades, with five Grammy wins to her name and work that crosses Afropop, funk, jazz and West African oral traditions. Her star sits among more than 2,800 others on Hollywood Boulevard, the pavement honour launched by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in 1960 and awarded to figures across film, television, music, radio and live performance.
For a Walk of Fame that has recognised entertainers for over six decades, the absence of an African musician until now is its own detail — one that Kidjo's ceremony put to rest without fanfare beyond the fact itself.
