MOBO Awards founder Kanya King dies at 57

Kanya King, the broadly revered music government, founding father of the MOBO Awards, and champion of Black British music, has died on the age of 57.

King handed away on Wednesday (June 3) after “a brave and characteristically decided battle with colon most cancers,” the MOBO Organisation mentioned in a press release at the moment (June 5).

King was surrounded by her “household, shut pals and love,” the organisation mentioned, including that “the music world has misplaced one among its most fearless champions.”

The MOBO Awards grew to become the primary ceremony in Europe to have fun Black music, spanning genres from hip-hop, grime and R&B to reggae, jazz, gospel and Afrobeats.

King based the MOBO Awards in 1996, staging the primary ceremony six weeks after securing a broadcast slot from Carlton Tv.

The inaugural occasion was held on the Grand Connaught Rooms in London in November 1996 and broadcast on ITV.

The ceremony was the primary in Europe to have fun Black music and have become a fixture of the UK awards calendar.

“Thirty years in the past, Kanya King remortgaged her house, alone, with out institutional backing, with out business assist, to construct a stage that may rework British music without end,” the MOBO Organisation mentioned.

“She was a single mom from a Kilburn council property who was advised that Black music was too area of interest, that there was no market and that the business was not . As an alternative of arguing, she constructed. Six weeks later, the primary MOBO Awards was broadcast to the nation, and nothing was ever the identical once more.”

“What Kanya created was by no means merely an awards ceremony,” the assertion mentioned. “It was an act of cultural justice.”

“MOBO didn’t simply have fun Black music; it legitimized it, amplified it, and demonstrated its industrial and inventive energy to a world that had too usually chosen to not see it.”

Artists who’ve carried out at or gained prizes on the MOBO Awards embrace Amy Winehouse, Stormzy and Olivia Dean.

The MOBO Awards championed genres together with grime, storage and Afrobeats, and launched an African music class in 2005.

In 2009, the ceremony grew to become one of many first main UK awards exhibits to maneuver exterior London, later touring to cities together with Liverpool, Glasgow and Newcastle.

The MOBO Awards marked their thirtieth anniversary in 2026, with a ceremony at Co-op Dwell in Manchester on March 26.

The anniversary 12 months included the opening of the Home of MOBO, a group hub in south London.

Olivia Dean gained three prizes at that ceremony, together with Album of the Yr for The Artwork of Loving and Track of the Yr for Man I Want.

Talking to Billboard earlier than the anniversary present, King mentioned Black music had moved “from the margins to absolutely the heart of world tradition.”

She described the milestone as a testomony to the MOBOs’ endurance and its function in shaping Black tradition past the UK.

King was appointed MBE in 1999 and made a CBE within the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honours for her providers to music.

She obtained an Ivors Academy Honour in 2025, which she accepted throughout what she referred to as “a tough week health-wise,” in line with the assertion.

King obtained a particular honour on the 2025 MOBO Awards, held in Newcastle in February, months after her analysis.

There, King advised the viewers: “I by no means allowed somebody to outline my limits. Not in life. Not in enterprise. And I’m actually not going to have that occur now.”

The MOBO Organisation’s assertion closed: “Relaxation in energy, Kanya. You constructed this. All of it.”

You may learn MOBO’s assertion in full beneath:

It’s with immeasurable sorrow that the MOBO Organisation broadcasts the passing of its Founder and CEO, Kanya King CBE.

Kanya handed away peacefully on 3 June 2026 after a brave and characteristically decided battle with colon most cancers. She was surrounded by her household, shut pals and love. The music world has misplaced one among its most fearless champions.

Thirty years in the past, Kanya King remortgaged her house, alone, with out institutional backing, with out business assist, to construct a stage that may rework British music without end.

She was a single mom from a Kilburn council property who was advised that Black music was too area of interest, that there was no market and that the business was not . As an alternative of arguing, she constructed. Six weeks later, the primary MOBO Awards was broadcast to the nation, and nothing was ever the identical once more.

What Kanya created was by no means merely an awards ceremony. It was an act of cultural justice. MOBO didn’t simply have fun Black music; it legitimised it, amplified it, and demonstrated its industrial and inventive energy to a world that had too usually chosen to not see it.

Olivia Dean, Stormzy, Little Simz, RAYE, Craig David, Soul II Soul, Ms. Dynamite, So Strong Crew, Krept & Konan, Kano, Amy Winehouse, Sade, Central Cee and extra. Each artist who has stood on the MOBO stage since 1996, each door that opened, each alternative that adopted, and each ceiling that was shattered carries the imprint of Kanya King’s imaginative and prescient.

She constructed a platform that has reached tons of of tens of millions of individuals all over the world. She was awarded a CBE and obtained an Ivors Academy Honour in 2025, accepting it, characteristically, in the course of what she described as “a tough week health-wise”, but nonetheless managing to encourage each individual within the room. She by no means stopped. She by no means requested for permission. She by no means accepted that the phrase “no” was ultimate.

When she stood on the MOBO stage in Newcastle in February 2025, simply months after her analysis, she advised the viewers: “I by no means allowed somebody to outline my limits. Not in life. Not in enterprise. And I’m actually not going to have that occur now.”

That was Kanya King. Proper to the very finish.

The 2026 MOBO Awards, held throughout the Organisation’s landmark thirtieth anniversary 12 months, will probably be devoted completely to her reminiscence. Each artist, each second and each observe will carry her legacy.

The world was a profoundly higher place with Kanya King in it. The MOBO household is heartbroken, but in addition endlessly grateful, proud and impressed by every thing she gave to music, tradition and the generations who will comply with in her footsteps.

Relaxation in energy, Kanya.

You constructed this.

All of it.

Music Enterprise Worldwide