Olivia Dean

Born Olivia Lauryn Dean on 14 March 1999 in the London borough of Haringey to an English father and a Jamaican-Guyanese mother, the singer-songwriter known as Olivia Dean cut her teeth working with UK drum 'n' bass mainstays Rudimental before dropping her own debut EP Ok Love You Bye in 2019 followed by her “breakup project” What Am I Gonna Do On Sundays? Drawing influence from 1960s girl groups as well the likes of Amy Winehouse and Lauryn Hill, she first honed her skills as a student at the world-famous BRIT School, of which the aforementioned icon Amy Winehouse was also an alumnus, and released two more EPs—2021's Olivia Dean If You Know What I Mean and Growth—before winning the title of Amazon Music's 2021 breakthrough artist of the year and recording an exclusive version of Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song" for Amazon's 2021 Christmas Originals, which went to number 19 in the UK singles chart. She unveiled her debut full-length Messy in 2023. Released via EMI, the LP went to number four in the UK and housed a soulful title track as well as plenty of other numbers in thrall to a retro soul sound.