Kanya King, the British entrepreneur who founded the MOBO Awards, died on June 3, 2026, at the age of 57 after being diagnosed with colon cancer.
Born in Kilburn, London, in 1969, she built the awards into a major platform for Black music in Britain. King studied at Goldsmiths, University of London and was recognised with honors including the MBE and later the CBE.
In December 2024, she disclosed that she had stage four bowel cancer.