Olivia Dean

Olivia Lauryn Dean (born 14 March 1999) is an English singer and songwriter from the London Borough of Haringey. She is known for her successful chart releases and critically acclaimed albums, earning accolades that include four Brit Awards and a Grammy Award. Her debut studio album, Messy (2023), earned a nomination for the Mercury Prize, while her second album, The Art of Loving (2025), topped the UK Albums Chart.

Dean grew up in the suburb of Highams Park. Her father is English and her mother is a lawyer of Jamaican and Guyanese descent, whose mother emigrated to the United Kingdom as part of the Windrush generation. Raised in a musical household, Dean was introduced early on to artists such as Carole King, Al Green, Lauryn Hill, and Jill Scott. Encouraged by her mother, she took musical theatre lessons and sang in a gospel choir. At age fifteen, she was accepted into the BRIT School in Croydon, where she initially studied musical theatre before shifting her focus to songwriting and learning the piano.

Dean began writing songs at sixteen and performed street shows on London's South Bank. After working briefly as a backing vocalist for the group Rudimental, she self-released her debut single, "Reason to Stay", in 2018. Following the viral success of the track, she signed a recording contract with AMF Records and Virgin EMI Records in 2019. Over the next several years, she released a series of extended plays, including OK Love You Bye (2019), What Am I Gonna Do on Sundays? (2020), and Growth (2021). In June 2023, she released her debut full-length album, Messy, featuring her breakout single "Dive".

In September 2025, Dean released her second album, The Art of Loving, which reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. The album yielded several charting singles, including "Nice to Each Other", "So Easy (To Fall in Love)", and "Man I Need", which became her first UK number-one single. That same year, she collaborated with Sam Fender on a duet version of the single "Rein Me In". By July 2026, "Rein Me In" set the record for the longest-running number-one single in UK chart history.

In February 2026, Dean received four Brit Awards, including Song of the Year for "Rein Me In", and won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. That same period, she launched The Art of Loving Live tour across North America and Europe, drawing public attention for advocating against ticket scalping and high secondary markups. Beyond her music career, Dean has served as a brand ambassador for Chanel, starred in an advertising campaign for Burberry Her fragrance, and was named Hourglass's Global Brand Partner in March 2026.