Kanya King, Founder of Mobo Awards, Dies at 57

The Life and Legacy of Kanya King

Kanya King, the entrepreneur and tireless champion of Black British music who founded the Mobo awards, has died aged 57 from colon cancer.

The Battle with Illness

The news was announced by the Mobo Organisation, who said she died on Wednesday “after a courageous and characteristically determined battle” with her illness.

Tribute to a Fearless Champion

“The music world has lost one of its most fearless champions,” the statement continues. “What Kanya created was never simply an awards ceremony. It was an act of cultural justice. 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.”

Early Life and Career

Born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother in Kilburn, north London, King was working as a TV researcher when she set about filling a gap in the marketplace: an awards ceremony that would celebrate the Black British musicians who were sometimes overlooked by other industry events.

The Birth of Mobo

She remortgaged her house to raise the money for the first Mobo awards, held in 1996, eventually turning it into an arena-filling event that has celebrated artists such as Stormzy, Dave and Olivia Dean in recent years.