Angélique Kidjo is a popular singer from Benin who was born on July 14, 1960. She is known for the creative ways she mixes different kinds of music and for working with well-known popular musicians from all over the world.
Kidjo was born into a family of performing artistes. Her father was a musician, and her mother worked as a choreographer and theatre director. At age 20, Kidjo began performing in her mother’s theatre troupe, and, as a teenager, she sang with her brothers in their rock-and-blues band. She became a professional singer at 20 and went on to record her first album, “Pretty,” in 1988.
The Beninise star is a four-time Grammy Award winner who has released thirteen albums and is one of the top musicians working in the world today. In 2002, the singer-songwriter from West Africa was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
A passionate campaigner for children’s rights, climate change, and girls’ education, Kidjo has travelled widely to advocate for UNICEF-supported programmes. She has also created her own charitable foundation, Batonga, dedicated to supporting the education of young girls in Africa.
The ace artiste is not all about the talks but the action, thus, her journey with UNICEF speaks volumes.
Angélique went to South Africa in 2003 to take part in the Global Meeting for Sustainable Measles Mortality Reduction and Immunisation System Strengthening.
She took part in a symposium on issues affecting the future of young people in Africa in 2005 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and she also gave a performance at the Africa Unite concert.
The year 2006 saw her travel to Uganda to observe the situation of children and women affected by armed conflict.
In 2007, Kidjo in Cotonou, Benin, launched the “All Girls to School” campaign, which had the backing of UNICEF and other organizations.
In Syria, the musical star performed at the 2008 World Music Festival, met with the First Lady, and visited a child-friendly centre for Iraqi refugees established by UNICEF and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.
Not relenting in her love for African children, the music icon in partnership with UNICEF supported programmes helping vulnerable children, and maternal and neonatal tetanus programmes, in Benin and Haiti in 2009, respectively.
During a visit to Senegal in 2010, she urged young students to speak up about violence in schools. She also visited South Africa, to highlight the immense needs of children made vulnerable by poverty, violence, and HIV/AIDS.
The artiste brought attention to the “silent emergency” of child stunting in Samburu, Kenya, in 2012 and talked about how bad it is for a child’s development. She also attended the Social Good Summit in New York to call for the acceleration of progress towards reducing child mortality rates and performed a concert in the United Nations General Assembly Hall to raise awareness of the prevalence of female genital mutilation.
Profoundly calling for the elimination of child marriages, the musician and UNICEF Benin National Ambassador Zeynab Abib joined forces with seven of Benin’s greatest artists to produce a song to address the issue in 2017.
During the pandemic, she and other UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors joined a group of well-known people who asked G7 leaders to promise to give COVID-19 vaccines to poorer countries.
In her words, “I believe music is a language beyond the colour of skin, country, or culture. I want to inspire people to work to help educate, nourish, and protect our children,” and today, Angélique Kidjo is a veteran in her own right, on stages around the world, not only inspiring the music culture but investing in the lives of African children.