Olivia Dean: from north London to global stardom (via Croydon)

Olivia Dean knows how to lift the mood, as fans of the singer’s infectious warmth appreciate. This weekend the music industry reciprocated the love in style, showing how much it values her mellow sound.

At the Brits in Manchester last night, Dean, 26, won all the categories she was nominated in. Her second album The Art of Loving was album of the year, she was best pop act and also British artist of the year. The only downside: only one of her two nominated tracks could win for best song.

All this has been achieved at pace. Two albums, several awards for songwriting and successive stadium tours have taken her to the top of the business in three years.

Opening for Sabrina Carpenter in the US last autumn, Dean became the first female solo artist to have four singles simultaneously in the British top 10. Then, a few weeks into the new year, her impact in America became clear. The Art of Loving reached No 3, while her biggest hit, Man I Need, climbed into the top 10. In February Dean won a best new artist Grammy, making an acceptance speech that saluted her immigrant roots in the wake of angry protests against ICE brutality in Minnesota. “I’m a product of bravery,” she said, referring to her grandmother who emigrated to Britain from Guyana.

She has a history of beaming in some sunshine for a serious cause, and in the run-up to last night's ceremony Dean performed a series of concerts for the charity War Child. While her career was taking off, she often performed at fundraising events, including for the former Women’s Equality Party. Her mother Christine, who is of Jamaican and Guyanese descent, was its deputy leader.

“Christine is an amazing woman in her own right, but Olivia kind of mesmerised everyone into wanting to support her mother. We were there to take a stand against violence to women and suddenly, here was this cheery thing singing,” said Mandu Reid, the party’s former leader.

Dean grew up in north London where her English father introduced her to Al Green and Carole King. Her parents gave her the middle name Lauryn, in honour of Fugees frontwoman, Lauryn Hill. Her cousin is Top Boy actor and rapper Ashley Walters.

Her time at the Brit School in Croydon helped her to tackle early stage fright, she says. Dean has spoken about valuing the practical training she received there, learning basic skills such as how to properly coil up leads after a gig.

These days Dean is a one-woman feelgood machine and in high demand. She does not use TikTok much herself, but the site is full of videos of her fans shouting out her lyric “I don’t want a boyfriend!” from the song Nice to Each Other.

All the same, romance remains her biggest theme. “I know that so many songs are written about love,” she has said, “but I think it’s the most important thing in the world.”

Dean’s manager Emily Braham first spotted her when she was supporting the British drum’n’ bass band, Rudimental, and has spoken of knowing immediately that she had to meet her. The songwriter-producer Tobias Jesso Jr, who co-wrote Man I Need with Dean was also quick to identify her talent.

“Olivia had been writing great songs long before she met me, because she knows exactly who she is, and it radiates into her music in a beautiful way.” he has said.

Although Dean loves dancing, she describes her hobbies as “grandma activities” – crocheting, knitting and cooking. She also collects Snoopy memorabilia.

But she is already a fashion icon, representing brands such as Burberry and Chanel and modelling thecocktail dresses she wears on stage in magazine shoots.

Her 2023 debut album may have been called Messy, but it is a misnomer. Lola Young, her fellow Brit school graduate and award winner last night, has since gone on to take over the word “messy” with her hit soul-bearing single, and Charli xcx will forever be “Brat”. Dean is quite clearly the opposite.

With her upbeat and apparently relaxed personality, this year could well be a glossy Dean-summer. Extra dates added to her upcoming stadium gigs mean she will kick off on 22 April in Glasgow, before performing in Manchester and finishing a British run with four shows at the O2 in London. She then sets off for Europe, finishing in Dublin.

Beyond all that, Dean now hopes, like Charli xcx, to give acting a go. After watching the Bafta-winning film One Battle After Another, she recognised a new ambition.

“I just came out of the cinema, and something clicked like, I’d love to be in a movie,” she has said. She may feature on Sam Fender’s song Rein Me In – but good luck to anyone who tries.

Photograph by JMEnternational/Getty Images