Trailblazing MOBO Awards founder dies aged 57 after cancer battle

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.”

The statement credited King’s vision for helping open doors for generations of artists, saying: “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.”

MOBO also reflected on her global impact, noting she built “a platform that has reached hundreds of millions of people around the world.”

The organisation recalled her receiving an Ivors Academy Honour in 2025 during what she described as “a difficult week health-wise,” adding: “She never stopped. She never asked for permission. She never accepted that the word ‘no’ was final.”

The organisation quoted King’s own words from the 2025 ceremony in Newcastle, delivered 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.”

This year’s 30th ceremony, which took place in March, will forever be a tribute to King.

MOBO said: “The 2026 MOBO Awards, held during the Organisation’s landmark 30th anniversary year, will be dedicated entirely to her memory. Every artist, every moment and every note will carry her legacy.”

The statement ended with a final tribute: “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. Rest in power, Kanya. You built this. All of it.”

Over the years, the MOBOs have celebrated everyone from Olivia Dean, Stormzy and Little Simz to RAYE, Craig David, Soul II Soul, Ms. Dynamite, So Solid Crew, Amy Winehouse and Sade.

The MOBOs sit alongside the BRIT Awards and The Ivors as a cornerstone of British music culture.