Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Music of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards, Kanya King, has died at the age of 57.
News of her passing was announced in a recent Instagram statement from the MOBO Awards organisers.
According to the post, Kanya died peacefully on Wednesday following a long battle with colon cancer.
The organisers described her death as an “immeasurable sorrow” while reflecting on her career.
They noted that the music executive passed away surrounded by her loved ones, including family and close friends.
“It is with immeasurable sorrow that the MOBO Organisation announces the passing of its Founder and CEO, Kanya King CBE,” the statement reads.
“Kanya passed away peacefully on 3 June 2026 after a courageous and characteristically determined battle with colon cancer. She was surrounded by her family, close friends and love.
“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.
“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.”
In their tribute, the organisers highlighted Kanya’s deep commitment to black music and her role in reshaping the UK’s cultural landscape.
They also announced that the 2026 MOBO Awards, marking the event’s 30th anniversary, will be held in her honour.
“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,” the statement added.
“From Stormzy, Little Simz, Olivia Dean and RAYE to Craig David, Ms. Dynamite, Kano, Amy Winehouse, Sade, Krept & Konan, So Solid Crew, Central Cee and countless others, generations of artists have benefited from Kanya King’s vision.
“Kanya created opportunity that benefitted millions of people around the world.
“She was awarded a CBE and received an Ivors Academy Honour in 2025. She never stopped. She never asked for permission. She never accepted that the word “no” was final.
“When she stood on the MOBO stage in Newcastle in February 2025, just months after her diagnosis, 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.
“That was Kanya King. Right to the very end.
“The 2026 MOBO Awards, held during the Organisation’s landmark 30th anniversary year, will be dedicated entirely to her memory.”
King was a TV researcher working in London when she first identified a gap in the British music industry: there was no major platform celebrating the achievements of black musicians. She remortgaged her own home to fund the inaugural Music of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards in 1996.
Born in Kilburn, north London, on February 12, 1969, to a Ghanaian father and an Irish mother, King understood firsthand the cultural intersections that shaped Black British music.
At the time, genres such as gospel, jazz, R&B, soul, reggae, and hip-hop were often overlooked by mainstream award ceremonies.
Her vision was to create an event that would honour those sounds and the artistes behind them.