Founder of MOBO Awards dies after cancer battle at 57
Kanya King, Founder of MOBO Awards
The founder and CEO of the MOBO Awards, Kanya King, has died at the age of 57 after being diagnosed with colon cancer.
King, who played a major role in bringing black music and culture to the mainstream in the UK, died on June 3, surrounded by her family and close friends.
The MOBO organisation said in a statement on Friday: “It is with immeasurable sorrow that the MOBO Organisation announces the passing of its Founder and CEO, Kanya King CBE.
“She was surrounded by her family, close friends and love. The music world has lost one of its most fearless champions.”
In December 2024, King announced on stage at the MOBO Awards in Newcastle in February 2025 that she had been diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer.
She told the audience: “I never allowed someone to define my limits. Not in life. Not in business. And I’m certainly not going to have that happen now.”
King launched the MOBO Awards in 1996 after remortgaging her home while a single mother, without institutional or industry backing.
“What Kanya created was never simply an awards ceremony. It was an act of cultural justice,” the statement added.
“MOBO 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.
“Olivia Dean, Stormzy, Little Simz, RAYE, Craig David, Soul II Soul, Ms. Dynamite, So Solid Crew, Krept & Konan, Kano, Amy Winehouse, Sade, Central Cee and more.
“Every artist who has stood on the MOBO stage since 1996, every door that opened, every opportunity that followed, and every ceiling that was shattered carries the imprint of Kanya King’s vision.”
She was awarded a CBE in 2018 and received an Ivors Academy Honour in 2025.
“The world was a profoundly better place with Kanya King in it. The MOBO family is heartbroken, but also endlessly grateful, proud and inspired by everything she gave to music, culture and the generations who will follow in her footsteps,” the MOBO statement said.
“Rest in power, Kanya. You built this. All of it.”
Source: itv
