{"id":625953,"date":"2026-06-07T12:24:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T12:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/625953\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T12:24:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T12:24:34","slug":"stormzy-alesha-dixon-and-tallia-storm-pay-tribute-to-mobo-awards-founder-kanya-king-your-impact-is-immeasurable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/625953\/","title":{"rendered":"Stormzy, Alesha Dixon and Tallia Storm pay tribute to Mobo Awards founder Kanya King: \u2018Your impact is immeasurable\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Stormzy<\/a>, Alesha Dixon and London mayor Sadiq Khan<\/a> are among those paying tribute to Kanya King, the Mobo Awards founder who has died aged 57<\/a>. <\/p>\n

King died after \u201ca courageous and characteristically determined battle with colon cancer<\/a>\u201d, the Mobo Organisation said in a statement on Friday 5 June. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe was surrounded by her family, close friends and love.\u201d<\/p>\n

King, the youngest of nine children raised in a cramped council flat in Kilburn, north London, was best known as the tenacious visionary who was instrumental in elevating Black music and culture into the mainstream in the UK. <\/p>\n

She established the Mobos in 1996 while faced with industry scepticism and racist attitudes \u2013 she was told Black music was \u201ctoo niche, that there was no market and that the industry was not interested\u201d.<\/p>\n

King persisted, remortgaging her flat to fund it and build a stage \u201cthat would transform British music forever\u201d. It was, the statement said, not just an awards ceremony but \u201can act of cultural justice\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"KingKing promoting the 2009 MOBO Awards at the Clyde Auditorium with boyband JLS (PA)<\/p>\n

For the next 30 years, the awards championed some of the UK\u2019s best and most successful talents, from Stormzy to Amy Winehouse, Olivia Dean, RAYE and So Solid Crew.<\/p>\n

A number of those artists are now paying tribute to the woman who helped, not just to celebrate Black music, but \u201clegitimised it, amplified it, and demonstrated its commercial and creative power to a world that had too often chosen not to see it\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cKanya King, one of one,\u201d Alesha Dixon wrote on Instagram. \u201cIncredible woman! Thank you for everything! You helped so many people, your impact is immeasurable! Rest in peace angel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AleshaAlesha Dixon with Kanya King at a photocall in 2011 (PA) (PA Archive)<\/p>\n

Singer Tallia Storm said she was \u201cheartbroken\u201d to learn of King\u2019s passing: \u201cWhat Kanya King built with the MOBO Awards changed British music forever,\u201d she said. \u201cShe created opportunities where none existed, championed talent that others overlooked, and opened doors for generations of artists, presenters and creatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was fortunate enough to experience her kindness firsthand. She gave me one of my first opportunities as a presenter at the MOBO Awards in 2016 when I presented Kano with his award on stage. Like so many others, I will always be grateful for her support, encouragement and belief in young talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Storm said the news was even harder to process given that the Mobos had celebrated its 30th anniversary just a few months ago in March: \u201cSeeing the impact of her life\u2019s work and the community she built around her was truly inspiring,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cKanya was a light like no other. Selfless, visionary, warm and determined. Her legacy reaches far beyond music. It lives on in every artist she championed, every door she opened, and every person she inspired to dream bigger. The world has lost a truly remarkable woman. Rest in power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TalliaTallia Storm paid moving tribute to \u2018selfless, visionary\u2019 Mobos founder Kanya King (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

In a statement sent to The Independent, Beverley Knight hailed King for her \u201cdetermination and resilience\u201d at a time when \u201cthe music made in large part by Black urban artists like myself was ignored\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cKanya King remortgaged her house and used the proceeds to fund an award ceremony that I can say personally helped to expose my music to a mainstream audience. It was, for years, vilified in some corners of the media,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cStories about violence, mocking the attire of attendees and other derogatory stories were a constant, but Kanya persisted and stayed true to her vision. Thirty years later the MOBO Awards are now globally recognised as a celebration of the Music of Black Origin and has become a beacon for other countries to look towards what is coming out of the British urban music landscape. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Kele Le Roc, Miss Dynamite, Craig David, Misteeq, Stormzy, Skepta, Raye, Nova Twins, and countless others, the MOBOs has championed for 30 years the brilliance of artistry within the UK and also highlighting some of the international successes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BeverleyBeverley Knight hailed King\u2019s \u2018determination and resilience\u2019 (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Knight concluded: \u201cI will be forever grateful to Kanya\u2019s vision for the MOBO awards; without it, I would undoubtedly had a much harder mountain to climb. Rest well, Sister, your legacy is in enshrined in British Music history forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stormzy, who has seven Mobos to his name including for Best Grime Act in 2014 \u2013 the first award of his career as well as being the inaugural prize in that category \u2013 shared the organisation\u2019s statement to his Instagram stories and added heart and dove emojis. <\/p>\n

\u201cKanya King was a true pioneer,\u201d Sadiq Khan wrote in a statement on X. \u201cShe changed the face of culture and music – opening doors and creating opportunities for so many others. Her legacy will continue to inspire generations to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy deepest condolences to her family, friends and loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"StormzyStormzy at the Mobo Awards in 2020 (Local Library)<\/p>\n

King was heavily influenced by the discrimination she witnessed towards her parents, an Irish mother and Ghanaian father. \u201cMy father had a strong African accent, he struggled to get a job,\u201d she told Music Week. \u201cYou\u2019d watch things at Christmas time, like Zulu, and the images of Africans were of savages, the very opposite [of reality]. My father was very elegant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her father\u2019s death from leukaemia when she was 13 also affected her deeply, giving her a drive to see others achieve their dreams. She felt \u201cwritten off\u201d at 16 when she gave birth to a son and became a single mother, after splitting with her child\u2019s father after a year. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat put a fire in my belly and gave me the motivation to say, \u2018Why should I not have ambition?\u2019\u201d she told The Evening Standard. <\/p>\n

\"KanyaKanya King after being made a CBE at an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace (PA) (PA Archive)<\/p>\n

She deliberately emphasised the Mobos\u2019 focus on Music of Black Origin, recognising style and influence over skin colour. \u201cWe\u2019ve always said it\u2019s about the music… an event that celebrates music of Black origin doesn\u2019t seek to separate artists according to skin colour,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The Mobos quickly became star-studded events, drawing major artists including international stars such as Destiny\u2019s Child, Lionel Richie, Janet Jackson and Rihanna, who mingled at the ceremonies with homegrown talent such as Kano, Craig David, Stormzy and Amy Winehouse.<\/p>\n

\"PharrellPharrell Williams received a Mobo Award earlier this year (Getty)<\/p>\n

King\u2019s extraordinary contributions to the music industry were formally recognised with a CBE in the 2018 Queen\u2019s Birthday Honours List. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe world was a profoundly better place with Kanya King in it,\u201d the Mobos statement concluded. \u201cThe Mobo family is heartbroken, but also endlessly grateful, proud and inspired by everything she gave to music, culture and the generations who will follow in her footsteps. Rest in power, Kanya. You built this. All of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

King announced her diagnosis in December 2024, on the same night she received a LIVE Foundation lifetime achievement award for her tireless work over three decades.<\/p>\n

\"KingKing at the Mobo Awards in Manchester, March 2026 (PA Wire)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile this journey will undoubtedly be challenging, I\u2019ve always believed in finding meaning through adversity,\u201d she said. \u201cIf my story can save just one life, then it\u2019s a story worth telling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Producer and artist Pharrell paid tribute to King\u2019s tenacity while accepting the Global Songwriter Award at this year\u2019s ceremony, where King was seen in public for the last time on the red carpet in Manchester. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you love what you get to do,\u201d Pharrell said, \u201cyou\u2019re never working. You\u2019re just having the time of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[71525,6491,96,11237,99,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-625953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-arts-culture-and-entertainment","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-horizontal","tag-los-angeles","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}