Kayo Shekoni (b. 1964)
Alias:
Afro-Dite
Freestyle
Kayo
Kayode Maria Söderberg Shekoni
Nya Kayo Shekoni
Birthplace:
Järfälla, Stockholms län, Sweden
Born:
April 17, 1964
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 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 scene and released a self-titled influenced club-soul album on The SweMix Label, the music was mostly new jack swing but some tracks were reggae and house and featured hip hop influences. It was produced by label co-founder Stonebridge with Christian Falk and Alexander Bard (from Army of lovers). 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 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 with the song "Never Let It Go" and representing Sweden in the Eurovision song contest in Tallinn the same year. In 2003 Afro-dite once again was at Melodifestivalen with the song "Aqua Playa". In 2006, Kayo sang in 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 and Fångarna på fortet ( the latter with cross-country skiing star Gunde Svan). Today she works as a skin therapist and but also takes on 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 the co-hosted pan-Scandinavian TV-show Inför Eurovision Song Contest 2010, series of four episodes, 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 band Cotton Club and Afro-Dite.