Kanya King, founder of the Mobo Awards, dead at 57
Kanya King, the entrepreneur and music champion who founded the Mobo Awards, has died aged 57.
King founded the awards in 1996 alongside her business partner Andy Ruffell, in an attempt to highlight the achievements of artists in the urban, R&B, reggae, and hip-hop fields, leading to the title Music of Black Origin.
She sadly passed away on June 3rd following a diagnosis of colon cancer, with the Mobo Organisation announcing the news of her death on June 5th.
In a statement to social media, the organisation said King died after a “courageous and characteristically determined battle with colon cancer. She was surrounded by her family, close friends and love.”
Reflecting on the seismic achievements of King’s career, they added: “Thirty years ago, Kanya King remortgaged her home, alone, without institutional backing or industry support, to build a stage that would transform British music forever.”
The statement continued: “She was a single mother from a Kilburn council estate who was told that Black music was too niche, that there was no market and that the industry was not interested. Instead of arguing, she built. Six weeks later, the first MOBO Awards was broadcast to the nation, and nothing was ever the same again.”
Describing the founding of the Mobo Awards and the entrepreneur’s legacy as an “act of cultural justice,” they said, “MOBO did not just celebrate Black music; it legitimised it, amplified it and transformed the cultural landscape of the UK.”
King’s work in establishing the Mobo Awards has helped to platform major artists such as Stormzy, Sade, Little Simz, and so many others, with that vision also being extended to musicians including Amy Winehouse and Central Cee.
The 2026 Mobo Awards, which took place at the Co-op Arena in Manchester in March, saw Olivia Dean sweep the haul of trophies, taking home the prizes for ‘Album of the Year’, ‘Song of the Year’, and ‘Best Female Act’.
The Mobo Organisation said that King told the audience at the 2025 ceremony in Newcastle, months after her diagnosis: “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.”
The organisation noted that the next Mobo Awards ceremony will be dedicated to King’s memory, before concluding: “The world was a profoundly better place with Kanya King in it. The MOBO family is heartbroken, but endlessly grateful, proud and inspired by everything she gave to music, culture and future generations. Rest in power, Kanya. You built this. All of it.”
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