Olivia Dean

British singer, Olivia Lauryn Dean, was born on March 14, 1999 in Greater London's Walthamstow district. Raised in Highams Park by an English father and Jamaican-Guyanese mother, Dean began her musical journey at age 16, teaching herself guitar and piano. She performed at the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology, where she initially studied theatre before switching to songwriting. Dean's career took off when she was hired as a backing vocalist for Rudimental in 2017. Her self-released single, "Reason to Stay," gained traction, leading to her signing with EMI under its subsidiary AMF Records. In November 2019, she released her debut EP OK Love You Bye, followed by What Am I Gonna Do On Sundays? in December 2020. Dean was named Amazon Music's Breakthrough Artist of the Year in April 2021 and BBC Music Introducing Artist of the Year in 2023. Her debut album, Messy, was released in June 2023. Notable singles include "Dive" and a cover of Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song", which charted at Number 19 in the UK singles chart. Dean performed at Glastonbury Festival 2024 and released her second album, The Art of Loving, on September 26, 2025. The album includes the single "Man I Need", which reached Number 9 on the Billboard Global 200.