Beninese music legend Ang\u00e9lique Kidjo has made history as the first African musician and first Black African artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.<\/p>\n
The five-time Grammy Award winner was honored on August 18, 2026, during a ceremony on Hollywood Boulevard, receiving the 2,854th star in the Walk of Fame\u2019s Recording category.<\/p>\n
The landmark recognition celebrates Kidjo\u2019s extraordinary career spanning more than four decades. Born in Benin, the singer has built an international legacy by blending West African rhythms, Afropop, jazz, funk, soul, gospel and Latin influences, becoming one of Africa\u2019s most influential musical ambassadors.<\/p>\n
Kidjo was joined at the ceremony by Oscar-nominated actor Willem Dafoe and Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr., who both praised her artistic achievements and her impact beyond music.<\/p>\n
Hollywood Walk of Fame producer Ana Martinez highlighted Kidjo\u2019s global influence, describing her artistry as something that has inspired audiences across generations and continents.<\/p>\n
The historic achievement also makes Kidjo only the second African-born entertainer to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, following South African-born actress Charlize Theron, who received hers in 2005.<\/p>\n
For Kidjo, however, the honor represents more than an individual achievement. During her speech, she emphasized Africa\u2019s enormous contribution to global music and culture, framing the recognition as a milestone for the continent and generations of African artists.<\/p>\n
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce also officially declared August 18, 2026, \u201cAng\u00e9lique Kidjo Day\u201d in Hollywood.<\/p>\n
Kidjo\u2019s career has already earned her numerous international accolades, including five Grammy Awards, and collaborations with global stars such as Bono, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Peter Gabriel, Yo-Yo Ma and Burna Boy.<\/p>\n
Her Hollywood Walk of Fame star now adds another historic achievement to a career that has consistently pushed African music onto the world\u2019s biggest stages.<\/p>\n
Ang\u00e9lique Kidjo has officially left her mark on Hollywood and opened the door for generations of African artists to follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beninese music legend Ang\u00e9lique Kidjo has made history as the first African musician and first Black African artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The five-time Grammy Award winner was honored on August 18, 2026, during a ceremony on Hollywood Boulevard, receiving the 2,854th star in the Walk of Fame\u2019s Recording […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4010,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[160],"class_list":["post-4009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","author-urbanafrica"],"authors":[{"term_id":160,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"urbanafrica","display_name":"URBANAFRICA","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cropped-FFB50F59-0D6C-491C-BACA-64123F72D056.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cropped-FFB50F59-0D6C-491C-BACA-64123F72D056.jpg"},"author_category":"1","first_name":"Emmanuel","last_name":"I","user_url":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/","job_title":"","description":"Top journalist covering music, entertainment, arts, and culture, delivering breaking stories and deep insights that shape the global conversation."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4009"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4011,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4009\/revisions\/4011"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4009"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africahalloffame.org\/Home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=4009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}