Angélique Kidjo

After achieving worldwide prominence through her 1991 chart-topping release Logozo, West African vocalist Angélique Kidjo established herself as a mainstay across international sounds by blending her singular multilingual mix of Afrobeat, pop, jazz, reggae, and assorted African lineages with an array of partners drawn from disparate styles, among them Philip Glass, the Kronos Quartet, Peter Gabriel, Alicia Keys, Dr. John, and Branford Marsalis. Having departed Benin for Paris, she issued a series of widely praised Island Records projects throughout the 1990s before embarking on an expansive three-album series tracing African music’s imprint across the Americas, encompassing gospel alongside Brazilian and Latin traditions. Her exploratory approach and affinity for joint ventures have defined her path, yet a profound connection to Beninese and broader West African roots has consistently anchored every project, including the star-studded 2007 set Djin Djin and the culturally layered 2014 album Eve, each of which secured Grammy Awards. Commanding Fon, French, Yorùbá, Gen, and English plus a private idiom of her own making, she frequently performs across several tongues, sometimes within a single track. Recognized equally for activism, Kidjo has acted as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, supported OXFAM campaigns, and founded the Batonga Foundation to fund secondary and advanced schooling for girls across Benin and neighboring West African countries. In 2018 she interpreted Talking Heads’ Afrobeat-infused Remain in Light from start to finish, and the following year she unveiled Celia, her homage to Cuban vocal icon Celia Cruz. Kidjo returned in 2021 with Mother Nature, her initial collection of original songs in seven years, then partnered on the 2022 project Queen of Sheba alongside Ibrahim Maalouf; she has continued issuing singles, among them 2024’s “Agolo (Next Gen)” with AMÉMÉ.

Born in the coastal Beninese city of Ouidah to a mother who worked as an actress, dancer, and theatrical producer, Kidjo absorbed a passion for the stage and made her first appearance with that same troupe. Drawing inspiration from an eclectic spectrum that ranged from African figures such as Fela Kuti and Miriam Makeba to the rock, pop, and soul of Jimi Hendrix, Santana, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin, she was already performing professionally by age twenty. Her 1981 debut Pretty, helmed by Cameroon-based vocalist Ekambi Brilliant, appeared that year and spawned the hit “Ninive.” While the recording’s reception expanded her touring reach throughout West Africa, Benin’s restrictive political climate prompted her relocation to Paris in 1983. Progressing from backup vocalist to frontwoman of Jasper van’t Hof’s Euro-African jazz/rock ensemble Pili Pili, she cut three albums with the group before resuming her solo career with 1990’s Parakou on Open Jazz. Her independent output and Pili Pili tenure attracted Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who signed her in 1991.

Crafted under Miami Sound Machine drummer Joe Galdo, Kidjo’s Island bow Logozo became a breakthrough success that brought her to worldwide listeners. The 1991 album’s fusion of dance grooves, pop structures, and African rhythms, augmented by Branford Marsalis and Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango, propelled it to the summit of Billboard’s World Music chart. After extensive global touring and prominent festival slots, she traveled to Prince’s Paisley Park Studio to collaborate with producer David Z on the follow-up. Issued in 1994 and co-produced at London’s Soul to Soul studio by Will Mowat, Ayé generated the hit “Agolo,” whose inventive video earned Kidjo her initial Grammy nomination.

Although electronics and contemporary production had shaped her opening trio of albums, Kidjo revisited acoustic traditions for 1996’s Fifa. Equipped with eight-track recorders and microphones, she and recording engineers journeyed through Benin to capture local musicians, singers, and dancers before finishing the sessions in Paris, London, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Her subsequent 1998 release Oremi launched the trilogy examining African music’s reach into the Americas. Weaving hip-hop, soul, and jazz elements, the album centered on North America and presented a reimagined reading of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” alongside contributions from soul vocalist Cassandra Wilson, R&B singer Kelly Price, and jazz pianist Kenny Kirkland. For 2002’s Black Ivory Soul, Kidjo journeyed to Salvador de Bahia, where her integration of Afro-Brazilian traditions incorporated Carlinhos Brown, Vinicius Cantuária, and American singer/songwriter Dave Matthews; the project also marked her Columbia debut. The trilogy concluded with 2004’s Oyaya!, recorded with Los Lobos member and producer Steve Berlin and juxtaposing African guitar idioms against Caribbean and Latin styles. Moving to Razor & Tie, Kidjo enlisted an international roster of vocalists for the 2007 Tony Visconti-produced Djin Djin, featuring Josh Groban, Peter Gabriel, Amadou & Mariam, and Ziggy Marley; the album received the Grammy for Best Contemporary World Music Album the next year. A second Razor & Tie outing, Õÿö, arrived in 2010 and assembled an eclectic range of covers spanning traditional Beninese pieces to 1970s soul and Bollywood selections, with appearances by Roy Hargrove, John Legend, Bono, and Dianne Reeves.

Spirit Rising, a 2012 CD and DVD document of an inspirational live program taped at WGBH studios, surveyed material from across her discography. Devoting her ambitious 2014 album Eve to the strength of African women, Kidjo collected field recordings of female voices from across the continent and integrated them into the songs; Eve topped Billboard’s World Music chart and earned her a further Grammy for Best World Music Album. The same year saw the release of her memoir Spirit Rising and the stage premiere of IFÉ: Three Yoruba songs for Angelique Kidjo and the Orchestre Philharmonique Du Luxembourg, a work Philip Glass composed specifically for her. A second orchestral collaboration produced 2015’s Sings, led by Gast Waltzing, which offered fresh orchestral adaptations of her catalog alongside selected covers framed by a 110-piece ensemble. For the subsequent endeavor, Kidjo enlisted pop producer Jeff Bhasker to revisit Talking Heads’ 1980 classic Remain in Light as a complete album. Released in 2018, her version, frequently rendered in varied West African languages, included contributions from Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, Tony Allen, Blood Orange, and Antibalas’ horn section.

In 2019 Kidjo presented another collection of reinterpretations, this time honoring one of her key influences: Celia Cruz, the salsa legend who departed Cuba following the 1959 revolution. As a child Kidjo had witnessed the Cuban artist perform live with Johnny Pacheco in Benin and was struck by the vitality and exuberance of that appearance. Later she recognized that much of Cruz’s repertoire traced back to Yoruba folk traditions transported by enslaved Beninese people to the Caribbean centuries earlier. Partnering with arranger and multi-instrumentalist David Donatien, Kidjo aimed to filter Cruz’s music through the prism of those African origins rather than solely salsa. They reunited master drummer Tony Allen with an ensemble of skilled players to create a comprehensive sonic portrait spanning the 1950s through the 1990s. Celia appeared that spring and secured Kidjo another Grammy in 2020.

Emerging from pandemic restrictions, Kidjo issued Mother Nature in June 2021. Her first entirely original album in seven years, it featured partnerships with jazztronica duo Blue Lab Beats, Yemi Alade, Salif Keita, Lionel Loueke, Ghetto Boy, and additional artists, together with production from the Roots’ James Poyser, Synematik, -M-, and David Donatien; the track “Do Yourself” with Burna Boy later received a Grammy nomination. In 2022 she released the evocative “Keep Rising,” featured over the closing credits of the historical film The Woman King, and joined French-Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf for the collaborative Queen of Sheba, which merged Middle Eastern and African lineages. Across the ensuing two years Kidjo sustained her collaborative output through singles with Benjamin Epps (“Dans nos murs”), Davido (“Joy”), and AMÉMÉ (“Agolo (Next Gen)”).