CEO Kanya King CBE, the founder of MOBO Awards, dies aged 57
Kanya King, the trailblazing founder of the MOBO Awards, has died aged 57 following a battle with colon cancer.
The MOBO Organisation has announced the death of its founder and CEO Kanya King CBE, confirming she passed away peacefully on June 3, after what it described as “a courageous and characteristically determined battle" with colon cancer.
A statement said the 57-year-old pioneer was surrounded by “her family, close friends and love,” adding: “The music world has lost one of its most fearless champions.”
In a tribute reflecting on her legacy, MOBO said: “Thirty years ago, Kanya King remortgaged her home, alone, without institutional backing, without industry support, to build a stage that would transform British music forever.”
It highlighted how she was repeatedly told that Black music was “too niche,” but instead of arguing, “she built,” leading to the first MOBO Awards being broadcast just six weeks later.
The organisation said what King created “was never simply an awards ceremony,” calling MOBO “an act of cultural justice” that “did not just celebrate Black music; it legitimised it, amplified it, and demonstrated its commercial and creative power to a world that had too often chosen not to see it.”
