LOS ANGELES — Five-time Grammy Award winner Angélique Kidjo has become the first Black African and first African musician to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The Beninese singer was honoured Tuesday with the 2,854th star in the Recording category at 7011 Hollywood Boulevard, marking a major milestone in her more than four-decade career.
Kidjo, whose music blends West African rhythms with sounds from around the world, used the ceremony to emphasise Africa’s foundational role in global music.
“Without us, there’s no music possible on this planet,” she said.
Actor Willem Dafoe, who joined the celebration, described Kidjo as “the hardest-working woman in show business.”
Nigerian singer Adekunle Gold, along with Kidjo’s family, friends and fellow musicians, also attended the ceremony.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce previously confirmed that Kidjo’s honour would make her the first African musician and first Black African to receive a Walk of Fame star.
Kidjo, who has won five Grammy Awards and built an international career spanning four decades, joins the ranks of artists whose names are permanently embedded in Hollywood’s most famous pavement.
For an artist who has spent her career carrying African music into the global mainstream, the symbolism was unmistakable: Africa now has another name written into Hollywood’s history.