It is with immeasurable sorrow that the MOBO Organisation announces the passing of its Founder and CEO, Kanya King CBE.
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.
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.
From Stormzy, Little Simz and RAYE to Craig David, Ms. Dynamite, Amy Winehouse, Central Cee and countless others, generations of artists have benefited from Kanya King's vision.
She built a platform that reached hundreds of 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.
The world was a profoundly better place with Kanya King in it. The MOBO family is heartbroken, but endlessly grateful, proud and inspired by everything she gave to music, culture and future generations.
Rest in power, Kanya.
You built this.
All of it.
@itzchristunique Read books. your current situation will cause you to have a tunnel vision on the negatives, reading will give you some space to conjure up alternative thinking patterns = solutions, create pockets of happiness through escapism and give you some perspective.
I grew up with Autism, ADD, and Dyslexia. I was bottom of my class in reading and writing until I was 16. Everyone laughed at me and called me a [redacted.]
I had to take extra classes for support, and needed special conditions in exams. I was predicated to get a C in maths, and, art, and average Ds & Es in everything else.
With the help of certain teachers, librarians, and, family, I was able to flip the script on everyone. I got an A* in English literature, an A in English language, and an A* in History at GCSE level.
Now, at age 30, I have a modestly successful writing page with 40k+ net followers, and I have a job as a local librarian supporting learning in my community.
Don't ever let people tell you you're too stupid. That's the point of learning!
Respect to Kai and anyone else who is making the effort to learn 🙏
If a Good idea comes to you & the timing feels right, just do it. Cos if you don’t, God will take that idea & give it to someone else who won’t procrastinate like you did.
We are saddened to announce the passing of renowned anti-knife crime campaigner Richard Taylor OBE, who set up the Damilola Taylor Trust following the death of his son Damilola in 2000.
A statement on behalf of the family of Richard Taylor..
It is with a heavy heart that the family announce the death of our beloved father, grandfather and uncle, Mr Richard Adeyemi Taylor OBE, who sadly passed away in the early hours of Saturday, March 23, 2024, at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, after a prolonged battle with prostrate cancer. @BBCNews
MISSING PERSON
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