Angélique Kidjo

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Angélique Kidjo

Background information
Birth name	Angélique Kidjo
Born	July 14, 1960 Ouidah, Benin
Genre(s)	Afropop, Jazz, Gospel, Latin
Occupation(s)	Singer, Songwriter
Years active	1982–present
Website	Angélique Kidjo Official site

Angélique Kidjo (born July 14, 1960) is a Grammy nominated Beninese singer songwriter, noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos.

Kidjo was born in Ouidah, Benin. By the time she was six Kidjo was performing with her mother's theatre troupe, giving her an early appreciation for music and dance. Continuing political conflicts in Benin lead Kidjo to relocate to Paris around 1982. She started out as a backup singer in local bands, before establishing her own band, and by the end of the 1980s she had become one of the most popular live performers in Paris. She is married to musician and producer Jean Hebrail with whom she has daughter Naïma-Laura (born 1993), and is currently based in New York.

Kidjo is fluent in Fon, French, Yoruba, and English and sings in all four languages and also her own personal language which includes words that serve as songtitles such as Batonga. Malaika is a song sung in Swahili language. She often utilizes Benin's traditional Zilin vocal technique and jazz vocalese.

Her musical influences include the Afropop, Caribbean zouk, Congolese rumba, Jazz, Gospel, and Latin styles; as well as her childhood idols Bella Bellow, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Miriam Makeba and Carlos Santana. She has made her own renditions of George Gershwin's Summertime and Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child and has collaborated with the likes of Dave Matthews, Kelly Price, Branford Marsalis, Robbie Nevil, Carlos Santana, and Cassandra Wilson. Kidjo's hits include the songs Agolo, Aye, and Batonga.

In February of 2003, she performed a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" at the famed Radio City Music Hall in New York City alongside Chicago blues guitar legend Buddy Guy and New York rock guitarist Vernon Reid (of Living Colour) in what would become part of Martin Scorcese's "Lightning In A Bottle: One Night In The History Of The Blues", a documentary about blues music that features live concert footage of other rock, rap and blue greats.

She is also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

1 Discography
2 Awards
3 Dance/Club Hits
4 External links

[edit] Discography

Pretty (African release only)
Parakou (1990)
Logozo (1991)
Ayé (1994)
Wombo Lombo (1996)
Fifa (1996)
Oremi (1998)
Keep On Moving: The Best Of Angelique Kidjo (2001)
Black Ivory Soul (2002)
Oyaya! (2004)

Kidjo has also recorded a song on the soundtrack of the Jim Carrey movie Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.

[edit] Awards

Octave RFI (1992)

Prix Afrique en Creation (1992)

Danish Music Awards: Best Female Singer (1995)

Kora Music Awards: Best African Female artist (1997)

Mobo Awards (2002)

Grammy nominations include the Best Music Video of 1995 and Best World Music Album in 1999 and 2003

[edit] Dance/Club Hits

Two of her singles have reached the Billboard Dance/Club Play chart. In 1996, Junior Vasquez remixes of her song "Wombo Lombo" brought the song to #16. In 2002, King Britt remixes of her single "Tumba" helped the song reach #26. There have been other Kidjo singles to be remixed by notable producers, though the others didn't chart. "Agolo" was remixed by Mark Kinchen, "Shango" was remixed by Junior Vasquez, and "Conga Habanera" was remixed by Jez Colin.