Kanya King CBE, the chief executive and founder of the MOBO Awards, has died aged 57 following colon cancer. The MOBO Organisation said she passed away calmly on 3 June 2026, surrounded by family and close friends.
King set up the MOBO Awards in 1996. To fund it, she remortgaged her home. At the time she was a single mother living on a Kilburn council estate and working as a TV researcher. She launched the event without support from the music industry, after being told that Black music was “too niche” to succeed.
In its statement, the organisation said: “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 transformed the cultural landscape of the UK.
Born in north London to a Ghanaian father and an Irish mother, King built a stage that helped launch the careers of Stormzy, Little Simz, RAYE, Craig David, Ms. Dynamite, Amy Winehouse and Central Cee. Today, the awards are watched by hundreds of millions around the world.
For her work in music and culture, King was given a CBE and received an Ivors Academy Honour in 2025. After her diagnosis, she kept working. She stood on stage at the MOBO Awards in Newcastle in February 2025 and told the crowd: “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 2026 MOBO Awards will mark the organisation’s 30th year. The event will be held in her honour.