From winning his first MOBO in 2000, to presenting Kanya King with The Strat in 2021, Craig David opens up about his relationship with an executive who “wanted artists to be seen”...
I first watched the MOBOs as a kid in Southampton, and I thought it was just phenomenal. Little did I know that, when I released my first album Born To Do It in 2000, I would be celebrated in such a beautiful way by the MOBOs.
“I got three awards, and it was just a celebration. My mum was there, and I was on a stage like that for the first time, feeling I could live the dream. There weren’t many mixed-race kids who were crossing over to America, having No.1 albums and selling records. It wasn’t really happening. But then the floodgates opened, and you now see so many artists from up and down the UK dominating the charts.
“I’ve got so much love for Kanya because she created something that celebrates artists like that. Every artist is just trying to be seen, be heard and be enough – so to have an awards ceremony that sees you, even just to be nominated or in the mix, means so much. That’s what Kanya did.
“We first met backstage at the MOBOs in 2000. She was a very gracious, kind and caring woman – a presence that you felt as soon as she walked into the room. She really made an impression on me. It was like, ‘The MOBOs is you? Wow!’
“From that point, I went into a deep discovery mode of finding out what she’d gone through and what she’d created, and I found out about the struggles she’d had and how she was able to hold it together over the years.
“I was just enamoured by this wonderful presence of someone who was so knowledgeable about music, and was making sure there was representation for British Black music. She was very, very clear that we needed to have something that represented it.
Kanya was a very gracious, kind and caring woman – a presence that you felt as soon as she walked into the room
Craig David
“She said, ‘Look, you’ve had the biggest album of the year, but no matter how many millions of records you’ve sold, without the MOBOs, I’m not sure if you’ve really been seen before now.’ And I was like, ‘Respect…’
“Being the special human being that she was, Kanya really cared. She had my number and she’d just check in – sending a text message asking, ‘How are you?’ It felt very motherly, like she was protecting artists in an industry whose mechanics she really understood. She was not only fighting for them to be seen, but protecting their integrity and artistic expression. I just always felt that.
“It’s very sad that it’s come to this, with her being so young and with so much more to do, but actually the legacy that she’s left is something that will live for eternity.
“I’m just really grateful that I got to spend time with her and got to know her. She opened up to me, and felt like I was a safe space for her to do that. She put every penny she had on the line for something that she really believed in – and then there’s the factor of being a woman in an industry that is so heavily male-dominated and holding her own.
“I haven’t met many people as courageous as Kanya, and hopefully she opened the floodgates to keep empowering women. She said, ‘You can do this. You can be a woman of colour, you can actually make it in this business and do something important.’
“That’s a real win, and I think that’s what Kanya – who I believe is very much present in this conversation, smiling and saying, ‘Yeah, put me on the cover!’ – would think, too. I love that Music Week is honouring her, because this really can’t be just a blip and then we move on. No, let’s really double down on making sure people know what she was all about and her story.
“Presenting Kanya with The Strat at the Music Week Awards was such an honour; it felt like my opportunity to give Kanya her flowers. She was glowing on the night, I saw her backstage and I could see there was a buzz. Then on stage, she was just so eloquent and so Kanya, wearing her heart on her sleeve.
“There was also a little moment that the two of us had, after one of her stiletto heels snapped mid-flow. It didn’t faze her whatsoever; she finished her beautiful speech and got incredible applause. Then there was this moment where I felt so ordained and divine. I embraced her to say congratulations, but also whispered in her ear, ‘Kanya, I’ve got you. I know about the heel. Yeah, just lean on me; hold me all the way through.’
“We were both laughing as we came off stage, but I felt the ‘lean on me’ thing – it felt the same as when she’d had my back before. There was more symbolism than just what was happening. What a beautiful thing that we could have this embrace, because we knew this inside story.
“Now, I’m just really proud of Kanya and I think she’ll be watching and enjoying the glory, especially when she sees the Music Week cover. She’ll be like, ‘Wow, who would’ve known that I had so much love and support?’”
