Mobo Awards founder Kanya King dies at 57

Mobo Awards founder Kanya King dies at 57Just nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleAlex TaylorBBC News Culture reporterGetty ImagesKanya King founded the Mobo Awards in 1996Mobo Awards founder Kanya King, who worked tirelessly to champion black musicians' contribution to British culture, has died at the age of 57.She was best known as the tenacious founder of the Music of Black Origin awards, which celebrated their 30th anniversary earlier this year in Manchester.Speaking at the ceremony, she told the BBC she had funded the first event out of her own pocket, "against my mother's judgment... but it paid off". King died on Wednesday after "a courageous and characteristically determined battle with colon cancer", the Mobo Organisation said in a statement. "She was surrounded by her family, close friends and love."Launched in 1996, the Mobos became globally renowned for their recognition of black talent - platforming upcoming stars and pushing to break industry boundaries.King defied expectations as a teenage mother who dropped out of school to gatecrash the predominantly white male music industry.She studied English literature at London's Goldsmiths College and later, while working as a TV researcher, spotted a gap in the market for a black-focused awards show.But success did not come easily."I remember being told, 'You've got a chip on your shoulder, why are you talking about race all the time?'" she told Music Week in 2021. By 1999, King had been awarded an MBE for services to music as the Mobos grew from scrappy underdog to music industry fixture, holding its own against the long-established Brit Awards.Its musical spectrum remains uniquely broad - giving early support to UK garage at the turn of the millennium, alongside R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, Afrobeat and broader African music, and championing grime before its mainstream explosion.Against all oddsKing's upbringing inspired her forthr...