Kanya King, Mobo Awards founded, dies aged 57
Kanya King, the entrepreneur and tireless champion of Black British music who founded the Mobo awards, has died aged 57 from colon cancer.
Kanya King, the entrepreneur and tireless champion of Black British music who founded the MOBO Awards, has died aged 57 from colon cancer, News.Az reports, citing the Guardian.
Her death was announced by the MOBO Organisation, which said she passed away on Wednesday “after a courageous and characteristically determined battle” with her illness.
“The music world has lost one of its most fearless champions,” the statement 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 demonstrated its commercial and creative power to a world that had too often chosen not to see it.”
RECOMMENDED STORIES
Born to a Ghanaian father and Irish mother in Kilburn, north London, King worked as a TV researcher before identifying a gap in the industry: an awards ceremony dedicated to recognising Black British musicians who were often overlooked by mainstream events.
She remortgaged her home to fund the first MOBO Awards, held in 1996, which later grew into a major arena-filling event celebrating artists such as Stormzy, Dave, and Olivia Dean in recent years.
By Nijat Babayev
Similar news
