Kanya King, the founder of the Mobo Awards, has died at the age of 57 after “a courageous and characteristically determined battle with colon cancer,” the Mobo Organisation said.
King, who played a major role in bringing black music and culture to the mainstream in the UK, was a single mother from a Kilburn council estate when she established the awards ceremony in 1996.
It has since grown into a national institution and celebrated artists including Amy Winehouse, Stormzy, Olivia Dean, Raye and So Solid Crew.
She died peacefully on June 3, “surrounded by her family, close friends and love,” according to a statement.
It 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.”
