Kayode Maria Söderberg Shekoni (born 17 April 1964) is a Swedish-Nigerian singer and actress.

Career

Kayo started out as a singer in the 1980s with Swedish synth-pop band Freestyle. Kayo left the group with the release of the fourth single Vill ha dej. She then worked as a backup singer and dancer for various Swedish artists such as The Creeps,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

and Anders Glenmark. She is a classically trained ballet dancer and performed professionally for many years. In 1990 she became part of the

Nordik beat The Scandinavian electro-pop scene kickstarted with the invention of the Nordik Beat sound in Stockholm in the late 1980s. By merging the new technologies at the time, building small inexpensive studios armed with computers and samplers rather tha ...

scene and released a self-titled club-soul influenced album on The SweMix Label. The music was mostly new jack swing but some tracks were

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

and house and featured hip hop influences. It was produced by label co-founder Stonebridge with

Christian Falk Christian Falk (25 April 1962 – 24 July 2014) was a Swedish record producer and musician. Falk started his recording career with the band Madhouse in the early 1980s. He later moved on and became a founding member of post-punk band Imperiet. ...

and

Alexander Bard Alexander Bengt Magnus Bard (born 17 March 1961) is a Swedish musician, author, lecturer, artist, songwriter, music producer, TV personality, religious and political activist, and one of the founders of the Syntheist religious movement alongside ...

(from

Army of lovers Army of Lovers is a Swedish dance- pop group which formed in 1987 and had a number of hits in Europe throughout the 1990s. Some of their biggest successes include the song "Crucified", which was a big hit in Europe, charting 31 weeks in the E ...

). She released 4 hit singles of the album. Her second album was a Swedish language soul-pop album entitled ‘'Kärleksland'’ and featured songs by

Orup Hans Thomas Eriksson (born 29 November 1958), known by his stage name Orup, is a Swedish singer, songwriter and musician who enjoyed major success in his native country and Scandinavia in the late 1980s and early 1990s with songs like " Jag blir he ...

and was well received by radio. After acting in a couple of teenage movies in the mid-1990s, she became one-half of Le Click, who had several hit singles in North America and Germany during the 1990s. Later on, she became part of the pop group Afro-dite in the early 2000s, reaching the finals at

Melodifestivalen 2002 Melodifestivalen 2002 was the selection for the 42nd song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the 41st time that this system of picking a song had been used. Five heats had taken place to select the ten songs for the fi ...

with the song "Never Let It Go" and representing Sweden in the Eurovision song contest in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

the same year. In 2003 Afro-dite competed once again at Melodifestivalen with the song "Aqua Playa". In 2006, Kayo sang at Melodifestivalen as a solo artist and did not reach the finals. She has released some solo singles, such as "Another Mother" (#11 in Sweden) in 1991, and "(If It Makes You) Feel Good" in 2006. Kayo Shekoni has also hosted Förkväll on

TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to: *TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station *TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network **TV4 Group, owners of the Swedish television station *South African Broadcasting Corporation TV4, a channel operated by the st ...

and Fångarna på fortet ( the latter with cross-country skiing star

Gunde Svan Gunde Anders Svan (born 12 January 1962) is a Swedish former cross-country skier and auto racing driver. During his cross-country skiing career he won a total of four gold, one silver and one bronze medals at the Winter Olympics. Svan won a total ...

). She worked as a while as a skin therapist but never left showbiz assignments. In spring 2010 she performed at the Melodifestivalen, not as a competitor, but performing a medley of past winning songs with several previous winners. In 2010 she co-hosted a four-episode series of pan-Scandinavian TV-show ''Inför Eurovision Song Contest 2010'', analyzing all the competing songs submitted to that year's Eurovision Song Contest. She also works as a DJ, co-runs a night club and performs with disco & cocktail

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

band

Cotton Club The Cotton Club was a New York City nightclub from 1923 to 1940. It was located on 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue (1923–1936), then briefly in the midtown Theater District (1936–1940).Elizabeth Winter"Cotton Club of Harlem (1923- )" Blac ...

and Afro-Dite. She returned to Melodifestivalen with Afro-Dite in 2012. She has been very active on the theatre stages with ''B.U.S.'' directed by Josette Bushell-Mingo, “

Raisin in the Sun ''A Raisin in the Sun'' is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" (also known as "A Dream Deferred") by Langston Hughes. The story tells of a black family's experiences in south Chic ...

” with the National Theatre (and touring with the play in Sweden and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, and taking the production to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and the US), Norrbottens Teatern's production of “

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...

”, "

The Witches of Eastwick ''The Witches of Eastwick'' is a 1984 novel by American writer John Updike. A sequel, '' The Widows of Eastwick'', was published in 2008. Plot The story, set in the fictional Rhode Island town of Eastwick in the early 1970s, follows the witc ...

" (the latter with West End star

Peter Jöback Peter Arne Jöback (born 4 June 1971 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish singer, actor and musical artist. Biography Early life and education Peter Jöback was born on 4 June 1971 in Stockholm. He spent his childhood in Värmland and Österg� ...

), " Taube Today" at Västmanlands Teater and Uppsala Stadsteater. She has also performed at Le Click reunion concerts.

Discography

Albums

*''Kayo'' (1990) *''Kärleksland'' (1993) *''Out There'' (featuring Kayo) (1996) *''Le Click'' (featuring Kayo) (US and Germany only) (1997) *''

Never Let It Go "Never Let It Go" is a 2002 song written by Marcos Ubeda and recorded by Swedish group Afro-dite. The song won Melodifestivalen 2002 and was the entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, where it placed 8th out of 24 competing entries. Melod ...

'' (with Afro-dite) (2002)

Singles

*Vill Ha Dig (with Freestyle) 1980 *Time's on My Side (with Supereffect) 1984 *Hot Stuff (with Stanton Klub) 1988 *Hon Sa (with Anders Glenmark) 1990 *Natural Experience (only released in the UK) 1990 *Säg Vad Du Vill/Tid För Mig (with Jean-Paul Wall) 1990 *Change of Attitude 1990 *Another Mother 1990 *Gimme Your Love 1991 *Brother 1991 *Do You Know (with Lab 5) 1991 *Thing Called Love (with Natural Experience) 1992 *Don't Leave Me (with Natural Experience) 1992 *Om Natten 1993 *Sommar 1993 *Kärleksland 1993 *Torka Dina Tårar 1993 *Om Du Vill Ha Mig Som Jag Är 1993 *Let It Begin – Peace in Mind (with Out There) 1996 *These Honest Hands (with Out There) 1996 *Call Me (with Le Click) 1997 *Call Me-New Mixes (with Le Click) 1997 *Don't Go (with Le Click) 1997 *Voodoo Fever (with Le Click) 1997 *Show Me (med Le Click) 1997 *Tell Me That You Want Me (with Le Click) 1997 *Something To Dream Of (with Le Click) 1997 *If I Can't Have You (with LFO) 1998 *Wannabe (Somebody Special) 1998 *Never Let It Go (with Afro-Dite) 2002 *Rivers of Joy/Shining Star (with Afro-Dite) 2002 *I Love Clubbers (with Clubbers International) 2002 *Turn It Up (with Afro-Dite) 2002 *Aqua Playa (med Afro-Dite) 2003 *In Your Life (with

La Bouche La Bouche (French for "The Mouth", ) is a German-American Euro-Dance duo best known for the hits " Be My Lover", " Sweet Dreams", " You Won't Forget Me" and "Tonight is the Night".IMO Records"La Bouche Biography", ''IMO Records' Retrieved on 08 M ...

) 2003 *Innan Natten Är Över 2006 *(If It Makes You) Feel Good 2007

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shekoni, Kayo 1964 births Eurodisco musicians Swedish dance musicians Swedish pop singers Swedish expatriates in Germany Swedish people of Nigerian descent Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Swedish people of Yoruba descent Yoruba actresses Yoruba women musicians Swedish actresses Melodifestivalen contestants English-language singers from Sweden 21st-century Nigerian actresses Freestyle (Swedish band) Drag Race Sverige