Kanya King, MBE

Founder, MOBO Awards

When Kanya King founded the first MOBO Awards in 1996, with the show broadcast on Carlton TV, many believed there would be scant audience for the celebration of ‘Music of Black Origin’ which embraces such genres as Reggae, RnB, Hip Hop and Gospel. Today the MOBOs reach over 400 million viewers across over 200 countries and have helped propel the careers of artists such as Emeli Sandé, Tinie Tempah and Amy Winehouse. 2015 marked the 20th year of the MOBOs, and brought with it the inaugural Rise With Us season, a programme of events aiming to promote diversity within fashion, art, film and theatre as well as music, working with partners such as the National Theatre, the BFI, the British Library and Tate Britain. The youngest of nine children, King grew up in a council flat in Kilburn where her Ghanaian-Irish family was subjected to ‘huge discrimination’, but she took the advice of her father to ‘be the best you can be’, and today encourages and enables others to do likewise. 

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Debrett's 500 2016