The MOBO Organisation has announced with immeasurable sorrow the passing of its visionary Founder and CEO, Kanya King CBE. King passed away peacefully on June 3, 2026, surrounded by her family and close friends, following a courageous and characteristically determined battle with colon cancer.
Thirty years ago, as a single mother living on a council estate in Kilburn, King remortgaged her home entirely alone, without institutional backing or initial music industry support. Confronted by executives who claimed that Black music was too niche and lacked a viable commercial market, she chose to build her own platform. Just six weeks later, the inaugural MOBO Awards was broadcast to the nation, permanently altering the landscape of British music and culture.
What King established was far more than an annual awards ceremony; it was an enduring act of cultural justice. The MOBO platform did not merely celebrate Black music, it legitimized and amplified its creative power to a global audience.
The trajectory of British music—and the international success of artists including Stormzy, Little Simz, RAYE, Craig David, Wizkid, and Central Cee—carries the definitive imprint of her boundary-breaking vision.
Her massive cultural contributions earned her a CBE and a prestigious Ivors Academy Honour in 2025. King accepted the latter accolade in the midst of intensive medical treatments, inspiring the room by refusing to let her health define her limits. Standing on the MOBO stage in Newcastle in February 2025, just months after her initial diagnosis, she defiantly told the audience that she had never allowed anyone to define her limits in life or business, and she was not about to start.
The upcoming 2026 MOBO Awards, marking the organization's landmark 30th anniversary year, will be dedicated entirely to her memory. The MOBO family expressed profound heartbreak alongside endless gratitude for her legacy, ensuring that future generations of artists will continue to walk through the doors she single-handedly forced open.
