ELS: MBN360 Entertainment
Grammy-winning Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo is set to make history on August 18, 2026, when she becomes the first African musician and the first Black African performer to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The five-time Grammy Award winner will be honored with the 2,854th star in the Recording category during a public ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time at 7011 Hollywood Boulevard, across from the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
The announcement has been widely celebrated across Africa and the global music community as a landmark moment for African artists on one of entertainment’s most iconic sidewalks. Kidjo joins South African actress Charlize Theron, who received her star in 2005, as one of the few African-born figures represented among the more than 2,700 stars that line Hollywood Boulevard.
Theron, who is white, remains the only previous African honoree
Kidjo’s ceremony will feature speeches from Oscar-nominated actor Willem Dafoe and Harvey Mason Jr., the Grammy- and Emmy-nominated songwriter-producer who serves as CEO of the Recording Academy and MusiCares. Variety correspondent Angelique Jackson will emcee the event, which will be streamed live exclusively on walkoffame.com.
Born Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo on July 14, 1960, in Ouidah, then part of French Dahomey and now Benin, Kidjo grew up immersed in music, dance, and theater. Her father was a musician of Fon heritage, and her mother, of Yoruba descent, worked as a choreographer and theater director.
She released her debut album, Pretty, in 1981 before leaving Benin for Paris in 1983 amid political turmoil under the country’s communist regime. In France she refined a distinctive sound that fused West African traditions drawing on Fon, Yoruba, and other regional rhythms with funk, jazz, R&B, Latin, and gospel influences.
Over more than four decades, Kidjo has released nearly 20 albums and built a global following through her powerful voice and genre-blending style. She has won five Grammy Awards, including Best Contemporary World Music Album in 2008 and multiple Best Global Music Album honors between 2015 and 2022. She also received the prestigious Polar Music Prize in 2023.
Her collaborators span generations and genres, including Burna Boy, Alicia Keys, Sting, Philip Glass, Peter Gabriel, Pharrell Williams, Quavo, and many others. Her most recent album, HOPE!!, released in April 2026, features contributions from Williams and Quavo.
Beyond music, Kidjo has long been an outspoken advocate for social justice, women’s rights, and education. She serves as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and Oxfam and founded the Batonga Foundation, which supports girls’ education across Africa.
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TIME magazine once named her “Africa’s premiere diva,” a description echoed when she was selected for the Walk of Fame’s Class of 2026.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced the 2026 class in July 2025, placing Kidjo among 35 honorees that also included Miley Cyrus, Timothée Chalamet, Demi Moore, and Shaquille O’Neal. Selection follows a competitive process involving hundreds of nominations reviewed by a committee of industry professionals. Honorees typically have up to two years to schedule their induction ceremonies.
Kidjo has described the honor as both personal and symbolic. In earlier comments after the initial announcement, she expressed hope that her star would open doors for other artists from underrepresented communities. “I am the first African singer to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but I am sure I will not be the last,” she has said. “Many others will follow, and that fills my heart with joy.”
The recognition arrives at a time of growing global interest in African music and culture. Artists from the continent and its diaspora have achieved unprecedented commercial success and critical acclaim in recent years, yet institutional milestones such as Walk of Fame stars have remained rare.
Kidjo’s induction is widely viewed as validation of decades of pioneering work that helped introduce African sounds to international audiences long before the current wave of Afrobeats and world-music popularity.
Public Reaction
Fans and fellow artists have responded with enthusiasm since details of the August 18 ceremony emerged. On social media and in statements, many have framed the moment as a collective achievement for the continent. “When Angélique Kidjo is honored, the whole continent walks with her,” one observer noted after the original announcement.
The Walk of Fame, established in 1960, remains one of the most recognizable symbols of entertainment achievement. Stars are awarded in five categories-motion pictures, television, recording, live theater/live performance, and sports entertainment and the permanent plaques become part of the public streetscape of Hollywood. Kidjo’s star will stand as a permanent marker of African excellence in music on that storied boulevard.
As the ceremony approaches, attention is expected to focus not only on Kidjo’s personal accomplishments but also on the broader significance of greater representation. For a singer who left her homeland seeking creative freedom more than 40 years ago and went on to become one of the most decorated African musicians of her generation, the star represents both a culmination and a new beginning ,an invitation for others to follow the path she has helped blaze.
The event is free and open to the public. Those unable to attend in person can watch the live stream on the official Walk of Fame website.
With just days remaining until the unveiling, anticipation continues to build for a historic moment that places African music firmly on Hollywood’s most famous sidewalk
