Angélique Kidjo to Become First African Musician on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Angélique Kidjo will become the first African musician, and the first Black African performer, to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame when the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce honours her on 18 August.
The ceremony is set for 11:30 a.m. PT at 7011 Hollywood Boulevard, according to Billboard. Kidjo will receive the 2,854th star on the Walk of Fame. Oscar-nominated actor Willem Dafoe and Harvey Mason jr. — CEO of the Recording Academy, the organisation behind the Grammy Awards, and of MusiCares, its charitable arm — will join her as guest speakers. Variety correspondent Angelique Jackson will emcee, and the event will be streamed live at walkoffame.com.
Born in Benin, a small West African nation, Kidjo left for Paris in 1983 and built a career that now spans 19 albums released since 1981. She has won five Grammy Awards and received the Polar Music Prize in 2023, the Swedish honour often described as music's Nobel. Her catalogue moves across Afro-pop, funk, jazz and Yoruba tradition without pausing at genre borders.
Kidjo was announced as one of 35 new additions to the Walk of Fame's Class of 2026 last July, when Walk of Famers Eugenio Derbez and Richard Blade read out the names (Hollywood Walk of Fame). She was 64 at the time (Forbes Africa). The Walk of Fame's own press release confirmed that her star will make her the first African musician and first Black African to receive one (Hollywood Walk of Fame).
South African-born actress Charlize Theron received her star in 2005, but Theron was honoured in the motion pictures category. Kidjo's star sits in the recording category, making her the first from the African continent to be recognised there.
For an artist who has spent four decades singing in multiple languages and crossing continents on tour, the 18 August ceremony puts a pavement stamp on a career that never waited for permission. The Walk of Fame has awarded stars since 1958. That it has taken until the 2,854th for an African musician to appear is less a headline about one performer than a record of how long the pavement took to catch up.
