Angelique Kidjo

Born in Benin (West Africa), Angelique Kidjo is a Grammy award-winning music recording artist deemed "Africa's premier diva" by Time Magazine. Kidjo's internationally acclaimed repertoire includes collaborations with various recording artists such as Carlos Santana, Peter Gabriel, Alicia Keys, Josh Groban, Branford Marsalis, Joss Stone, and many more. Known for her dynamic and uplifting music, she has translated her distinctive work in the arts to that of philanthropy; by promoting education for girls in Africa through her foundation, Batonga and as a UNICEF Goodwill ambassador Kidjo travels the world to inspire and empower.

Since the release of her self-produced debut solo album, Pretty, in 1988, Angelique Kidjo has been embraced by the international press with wide acclaim and a devoted following. Over the past decade, she has used her visibility to support a far-reaching collection of advocacy groups, from UNICEF (for whom she is a Goodwill Ambassador) to her own Batonga Foundation (providing educational aid to young African girls). In September, 2009, she joined forces with UNICEF in a campaign to eliminate tetanus. A portion of proceeds for downloads of the song, "You Can Count On Me," will provide tetanus vaccines to pregnant women and mothers. Another haunting song, "Agbalagba," was originally penned for and offered as a free download with the New York Times best-selling book Say You're One Of Them by African writer Uwem Akpan. The book, recently featured in Oprah Winfrey's book club consists of five stories, each written from the point of view of a child in Africa. Written with her longtime collaborator Jean Hebrail in the Yoruba language, "Agbalagba" roughly translates to "the ancestors," as the song pertains to young peoples' responsibility to those that came before them. "I immediately felt a bond with Uwem. The second we met, it was as if we had always known each other. I'm proud to contribute a song to his beautiful collection of stories."