MOBO Awards founder Kanya King dies aged 57

Kanya King, the founder of the MOBO Awards, has died aged 57 after "a courageous and characteristically determined battle with colon cancer", the MOBO Organisation said.

King was a single mother from a Kilburn council estate when she established the awards ceremony in 1996, which has since grown into a national institution and has championed musicians including Stormzy, Amy Winehouse, Olivia Dean, Raye and So Solid Crew.

She died peacefully on 3 June, "surrounded by her family, close friends and love", according to a statement.

The statement continued: "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.

"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.

"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."

King played a major role in bringing black music and culture to the mainstream in the UK, using the ceremony to celebrate black British artists who were overlooked by other industry events.

She was made a CBE in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours List and received an Ivors Academy Honour in 2025.

Just months after her cancer diagnosis, King appeared on stage at the Mobos in Newcastle last year.

She told the audience: "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."

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King's "devastated" family said in a statement: "She faced every moment of her illness as she faced every moment of her life: with courage, with faith, with humour, and with an absolute refusal to be diminished."

They added: "Kanya leaves behind 30 years of music of joy, of resistance, of proof - proof that one woman, with vision, nerve, and love, can move an entire culture.

"We are broken. We are grateful. We are so profoundly, endlessly proud to have been her family."

The MOBO Organisation said the world was a "profoundly better place" with 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," the statement continued.

"Rest in power, Kanya. You built this. All of it."

Tributes have since poured in from stars including award-winning actor Idris Elba, who shared a post to Instagram saying that King was gone "too soon".

The star, known for The Wire and Luther, added: "You inspired me. Your dedication is unmatched. I will miss you @KanyaKingCBE, we will all miss you."

The Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, paid tribute in a post on X, calling King a "true pioneer" who "changed the face of culture and music", while Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy wrote that she "changed British music for the better through the Mobo Awards".

(c) Sky News 2026: MOBO Awards founder Kanya King dies aged 57