Musician & Humanitarian
Angelique Kidjo: Biography at a Glance
- Four-time Grammy Award-winner, activist, and humanitarian Angélique Kidjo is one of the most extraordinary voices in international music today.
- A creative force with 14 albums to her name, she has been called “Africa’s premier diva” and selected as one of "The 100 Most Influential People of 2021" by TIME.
- Angélique's striking vocals, stage presence, and fluency in multiple cultures and languages have won respect from her peers and expanded her following across national borders.
- She has cross-pollinated the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&B, funk, and jazz, as well as influences from Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East.
- Celebrating her exceptional courage in standing up to injustice and improving the world through art, Angélique was named one of The Guardian's "100 Most Inspiring Women in the World" and honored with the prestigious Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum and the “Ambassador of Conscience Award” by Amnesty International.
- Kidjo brings her infectious energy to her speaking engagements, with powerful messages about our shared humanity and what unites us at the intersection of world culture, race, gender, sustainability, and social justice.
Biography
Four-time Grammy Award-winner, activist and humanitarian Angélique Kidjo is one of the most extraordinary voices in international music today. A creative force with 14 albums to her name, she has been called “Africa’s premier diva” and selected as one of "The 100 Most Influential People of 2021" by TIME. Angélique's striking vocals, stage presence, and fluency in multiple cultures and languages have won respect from her peers and expanded her following across national borders. She has cross-pollinated the West African traditions of her childhood in Benin with elements of American R&B, funk, and jazz, as well as influences from Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. Celebrating her exceptional courage in standing up to injustice and improving the world through art, Angélique was named of one of The Guardian's "100 Most Inspiring Women in the World" and honored with the prestigious Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum and the “Ambassador of Conscience Award” by Amnesty International.
In addition to her genre-bending music, Kidjo brings her infectious energy to her speaking engagements, with powerful messages about our shared humanity and what unites us at the intersection of world culture, race, gender, sustainability, and social justice. She often is asked to talk about the artist as activist, creative collaboration, education, and women's empowerment. She recently has used her platform to focus on racism, describing the issue in America as "a worm eating an apple" and noting that the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted injustice and inequality. With her own inspiring life story and one-of-a-kind journey to stardom, Angélique leaves audiences uplifted -- and dancing as she includes singing in many of her programs.
Angélique began performing with her mother’s theater troupe at age six. When the Communist takeover of Benin threatened her artistic expression, she fled to France, and later, New York City. She has sold out Carnegie Hall, topped the Billboard charts, dazzled world leaders under the Arc de Triomphe, and collaborated with all-time great artists across generations, from Alicia Keys, Bono, Peter Gabriel, and John Legend to Philip Glass, Josh Groban, David Byrne, and Carlos Santana. She is known for showcasing African musicians, spreading the sounds and soul of Africa in venues across the globe. Her memoir, Spirit Rising: My Life, My Music, embodies Angélique’s vibrant personality with a foreword by Desmond Tutu. Publishers Weekly called it “a beautifully told tale of courage and determination, revealing an expansive life that proves ‘music has no color, no language, no boundaries.’”
Angélique created her latest album, "Mother Nature", while in quarantine. “Mother Nature” features collaborations with young artists from across the African diaspora, including Nigerian stars Yemi Alade and Burna Boy and Atlanta hip-hop due Earthgang.
Angélique won her 4th Grammy Award for "Celia", a musical reflection on iconic salsa singer Celia Cruz featuring legendary afrobeat drummer Tony Allen. Over the course of 10 beloved songs from Cruz’s catalog, Angelique’s voice soars in lockstep with a grand presentation of rhythmic touchstones that delve deep into the history of music from Africa and its influence on the music of Cuba. Her 2018 album, "Remain in Light", is a radical re-imagining of The Talking Heads’ landmark work from 1980, taking classics such as "Once in a Lifetime," "Crosseyed and Painless," and "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)" and reinterpreting them with electrifying rhythms, African guitars, and layered backing vocals.
Angélique won the Grammy for Best World Music Album two years in a row in 2015 and 2016 with “EVE,” a tribute to African women, and the orchestral album “Sings,” a blend of the rhythmic sounds from her native land with Western classical traditions. Her star-studded album DJIN DJIN won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Album in 2008. She has performed with several international orchestras and symphonies, including the Philharmonie de Paris and The Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
As an Ambassador for OXFAM and UNICEF, Angélique travels the world advocating for women, children, and human rights. At the G7 Summit in 2019, President Macron of France named Angélique the spokesperson for the AFAWA initiative (Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa) to help close the financing gap for women entrepreneurs in Africa. In 2007, she founded the Batonga Foundation to support the education of young girls in Africa.
Topics
A Special Note about Programs with Angelique Kidjo
Angélique Kidjo is happy to include songs in any of her speaking engagements.
Artist as Activist: A Passion for Freedom and Social Justice
“I believe music is a language beyond the color of skin, country or culture. I want to inspire people to work to help educate, nourish and protect our children.” – Angélique Kidjo
As a four-time Grammy Award-winning singer, “Africa’s premier diva,” and one of the greatest artists in international music today, Angélique Kidjo is committed to using her voice and influence as a philanthropist and human rights activist.
A Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF and cofounder of the Batonga Foundation, Angélique is an active campaigner, traveling widely to raise awareness, speak on behalf of the poor, and as a champion of women and children around the world. Her public service announcements on the need to educate all children, to eradicate polio, and to increase support for children affected by HIV/AIDS have helped bring greater attention to these issues.
Angélique invented the word “Batonga” as a defiant response to classmates and critics who told her that girls did not belong in school. Today, the Batonga Foundation takes a data-driven to equip Benin’s most vulnerable girls with the knowledge and skills they need to become agents of change in their communities and in their own lives.
From Fair Trade initiatives and curbing climate change to urging a ceasefire in war-torn Sudan, Angélique has proven that artists can be the best agents for change with their unbound imagination and unique way of envisioning the world. In this talk, Angélique discusses the responsibility of artists to use their platform for social justice, the many ways in which we can all give back, and the enormous impact each of us can make in the world, whether or not we are a global star.
Spirit Rising: Live Your Dreams
Angélique Kidjo grew up in the West African nation of Benin surrounded by the rich sounds, rhythms, and storytelling of Beninese culture. When the Communists took over, they silenced her traditions and demanded that she sing in praise of them. In “Spirit Rising,” Kidjo reveals how she escaped Communist Benin to France, then to the United States to become a Grammy Award–winning artist and international sensation. Having made her dreams into a reality, she now prompts others all around the world to reach for theirs as well.
Education Is Hope: Investing in the Future
Angelique Kidjo’s parents understood the importance of education. Even with the high cost of tuition and uniforms, they managed to send all 10 of their children to school. A growing consensus claims that the most cost-effective way to help African nations reduce poverty and improve the quality of life is to support education. Yet, continuing-education rates remain the lowest in the world, especially when it comes to grades 7-12.
“For me, education is so crucial because everything goes with it, like healthy politics and development,” Kidjo says. “Young people are the hope of my continent. When I watch the children of Africa, all dreams seem possible.”
Education not only empowers youth, but equips them with the skills and knowledge they need to dramatically reduce disease, hunger, early marriage, and infant and child mortality rates in their countries. When a child is educated, families, communities and entire economies benefit. Kidjo also shares stories from her work as a UNICEF ambassador.
Remain in Light: Reinvention & Collaboration
Angélique Kidjo has spent the better part of her life immersed in music, beginning as early as age six in her mother’s theater troupe and on to becoming a global star. With a dozen albums, two Grammy wins and over 35 years as a professional musician, she knows very well the complex process of working on a team.
Having collaborated with Dave Matthews, Alicia Keys, Peter Gabriel, Bono, Carlos Santana, John Legend, Herbie Hancock, and Josh Groban, to name a few, Kidjo, has a rare gift for making art with others, no matter their tastes, styles, or working habits.
In her most recent album, Remain in Light, Angélique has reinvented The Talking Heads’ 1980 classic, track-by-track, reimagining it with her euphoric singing, explosive percussion, horn orchestrations, and new lyrics performed in languages from Benin. Remain in Light represents an act of outreach, as Kidjo teamed with Producer Jeff Bhasker (Beyoncé, Jay Z, and Kanye West), and features cameos from Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend and Devonté Hynes of Blood Orange. Never a purist, the result is “a bridge” between cultures that displays Kidjo’s keen ability toblend, mix, borrow, and evolve.
As a vocalist, Angelique can mold and she can lead. Working with her “melting pot” of a band, including musicians from New York, Senegal, Brazil, West Indies, Spain, and Africa, she is the glue that unites this international group, cross-pollinating the West African music of Benin with American R&B, funk and jazz, as well as influences from Europe and Latin America, into an extraordinary, genre-defying sound.
