Kayo Shekoni

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 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 club-soul influenced 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 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 and Fångarna på fortet ( the latter with cross-country skiing star Gunde Svan).

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 band Cotton Club 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” with the National Theatre (and touring with the play in Sweden and Finland, and taking the production to South Africa and the US), Norrbottens Teatern's production of “Cabaret”, "The Witches of Eastwick" (the latter with West End star Peter Jöback), "Taube Today" at Västmanlands Teater and Uppsala Stadsteater.

She has also performed at Le Click reunion concerts.

In 2023, Shekoni is part of the main jury panel along with Swedish actor, performance artist, playwright and drag queen Robert Fux and radio and television host Farao Groth of the Swedish language reality television series Drag Race Sverige broadcast on SVT1 and SVT Play in Sweden and internationally on WOW Presents Plus.

Albums

 * Kayo (1990)
 * Kärleksland (1993)
 * Out There (featuring Kayo) (1996)
 * Le Click (featuring Kayo) (US and Germany only) (1997)
 * Never Let It Go (with Afro-dite) (2002)
 * Sisters in Crime 2016

Singles

 * Vill ha dej (with Freestyle) 1980
 * Time's on My Side (with The 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 (with Afro-Dite) 2003
 * In Your Life (with La Bouche) 2003
 * Innan natten är över 2006
 * (If It Makes You) Feel Good 2007
 * I Am What I Am (with Afro-Dite and Jonas Hedqvist) 2011
 * The Boy Can Dance (with Afro-Dite) 2012
 * You Got The Look (Foxy) 2012
 * Freeze 2016
 * Do You Love Me 2021
 * Never Let It Go 2022 (with Afro-Dite, remix by SoundFactory) 2022
 * We're Back (with Afro-Dite) 2022
 * Every Queen (with Robert Fux) 2023