Olivia Dean scooped the Best New Artist Award at the 2026 Grammy’s – but how much do you know about her? Here’s some facts you might not know.
As Olivia Dean held aloft her Best New Artist Award at the Grammy’s in Los Angeles last night (Sunday), it capped a meteoric recent rise for the singer-songwriter from London, England.
Olivia fought off strong competition for the award from the likes of fellow Brit Lola Young and Leon Thomas, becoming the first British person to win the award since Dua Lipa in 2019.
At the ceremony, Olivia performed Man I Need, which currently sits at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, and has already been number one in the UK. The song is taken from her second album, The Art of Loving, which has made Olivia a global star.
But how much do you know about Olivia Dean? Read on to find out some facts you may not know.
Music has always been around her
Music has always been a part of Olivia’s life. For instance, her middle name, Lauryn, was inspired by Lauryn Hill – one of her mother’s favourite artists around the time Olivia was born in 1999.
Both her parents love music, and music from artists such as Lauryn Hill, Jill Stone, Angie Stone and Al Green. Olivia has admitted that her first musical purchase, at age 6, was ‘A Moment Like This’ by Leona Lewis.
In addition, her cousin, Ashley Walters, found success as part of rap collective So Solid Crew.
She attended a famous school
When she was 15, Olivia, was accepted by the BRIT School in Croydon, which is a famous performing arts school, whose alumni include Adele and Tom Holland. While Olivia had to travel 1 hour 45 minutes each way to attend – often falling asleep on the commute – she has described attending as the best thing she did. While there she studied musical theatre initially, then switching to songwriting. While at the BRIT School, she became friends with other future stars including Raye and Rachel Chinouriri.
Olivia worked hard for her big break
Before she was famous, Olivia would gig anywhere she could. At 17, she put on street performances in London’s South Bank but sometimes would only make enough money to buy herself dinner.
During COVID, Olivia embarked on the ‘From Me to You’ tour, travelling around the UK in a bright yellow truck, giving open-air performances to fans and whoever happened to be passing by – even if some shows had less than 10 people attending.
The Art of Loving was written in a rented house
Olivia’s second album, The Art of Loving, has helped her to become an international star. But its origins are quite humble. Olivia didn’t go down the celebrity collaboration route, or go to America to record it. Instead, the album was composed and recorded in a rented house in East London – Olivia asked her closest collaborators to spend two weeks with her there, where writing and recording sessions were mixed with late-night conversations, good food and lots of red wine, according to the BBC.
Olivia is a big football fan
Olivia is known for being a football fan – influenced by her father. She supports English Premier League side West Ham United, and when she was young she would often attend games with her father, who was a season ticket holder at West Ham.
She got stage fright in her first performance
Olivia’s first taste of performing came in primary school, where at a competition she sang ‘Tomorrow’ from the musical Annie. Initially, she was so afflicted by nerves that she turned her back on the audience and started to cry. But she carried on and won second place in the competition.
While this early experience might have been traumatic, it didn’t put Olivia off and by age eight, she knew she wanted to be a singer. To this end, she took musical theater lessons on Saturdays, as well as joining a gospel choir.
