Secrets behind Olivia Dean's rise: As she's tipped as a BRITs stand-out, friends tell of her incredible work ethic, humble background.. and why she 'doesn't forget where she is from'

Not many pop sensations would claim their success stems from the grimy streets outside Wood Green Tube station – but Olivia Dean, who’s set to be the stand-out act at tonight’s BRIT awards, isn’t just any pop star.

For it was on the streets of the diverse north London area that the ferociously determined teenager cut her performing teeth, regularly busking outside the station with her battered acoustic guitar.

Friends tell me she would brave all weathers to sing there in the afternoons – not something for the faint-hearted. Because as well as its lively locals, Wood Green is known for its high crime rate, with the streets around the Tube a particular hotspot for robbery and mugging.

But Olivia, 26, whose voice has been compared to that of American superstar Mariah Carey, is made of stern stuff – a characteristic friends say she has inherited from her impressively hard-working parents.

Indeed, one friend of Olivia’s told the Daily Mail: ‘She loved those days, even enough they were hard. She was so ambitious. She was determined to make it, she would spend whole afternoons entertaining people outside the station.

‘Olivia is very proud of that time. It’s taken good old-fashioned grit and hard work to manage what she’s achieved – she’s no nepo baby.’

Tonight at the BRITs she has been nominated for five awards including best artist, best pop act, best song for her No1 hit Man I Need and another of her songs with Sam Fender, Rein Me In, as well as best British album.

She has been tipped by music insiders to pick up ‘at least three’ of them, with her main competition coming from another young British singing sensation Lola Young, who is also up for five awards, and Lily Allen, who has been nominated in three of same categories as Olivia.

The contrast between Olivia and Lily Allen could not be more stark. Lily comes from a family steeped in showbiz, through her father, actor Keith Allen, and mother Alice Owen, a film producer.

Olivia, meanwhile – who grew up in Haringey’s Highams Park and also earned some much needed pocket money through her busking – comes from a family defined by graft rather than connections.

I’m told her father, who is English and who she refuses to name, was a postman. There’s little doubt watching him get up at the crack of dawn to deliver post by foot and on his bike helped form her work ethic.

Her mother is equally impressive, albeit in a very different sphere. A successful barrister, Christine – who has a Jamaican-Guyanese background – specialises in family law, working at one of the biggest chambers in London, 1 Pump Court. She is also the former deputy leader of the Women’s Equality Party.

Records show Christine standing for the party in the 2022 local elections in Waltham Forest, and as the party’s London Assembly candidate a year earlier. Although not elected, she is said to have impressed as a political campaigner.

For the past eight years, she has also worked for the civil service as an HR manager.

A defining force in Olivia’s life, the resolute Christine instilled determination in her daughter, as well as a love of music – even giving her the middle name Lauryn, after US singer Lauryn Hill.

Speaking of her mother, Olivia says: ‘My mum is really powerful. She’s a barrister, she’s a feminist, she’s everything. I think that’s why I’m so vocal about feminism – because I grew up with a woman who never took no for an answer. She doesn’t take any s***.’

Olivia, say friends, also credits her maternal grandmother, who emigrated to the UK from Guyana as part of the Windrush generation, for making her the woman she is today.

Olivia won a place at the BRIT School in Croydon, south London, when she was 15, following in the footsteps of Adele, Amy Winehouse and Jessie J.

Studying there was ‘the best thing’ Olivia ever did, she says, especially as she admits she struggled at her state school in north-east London where as ‘one of the only black girls’ she says she ‘felt quite different to everybody else’.

Another key decision was made aged 17, when she changed from specialising in musical theatre to songwriting, after being captivated by a teacher playing her class a live version of Paul Simon singing Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes, accompanied by a South African group.

After this she begged her mother to buy her a piano.

Initially, Olivia started as a backing vocalist for pop act Rudimental. Aged 18, she self-released her debut single, Reason To Stay, which eventually led to her securing a deal with Virgin EMI Records.

By 2023, her debut full-length album, Messy, was nominated for a Mercury Prize.

Last year’s second album, The Art Of Loving, turbocharged her career – giving her her first UK No 1 with Man I Need, and leading to her becoming the first female solo artist to simultaneously have four singles in the UK Top 10.

All of this has ensured that Olivia is the most successful British export since Dua Lipa.

‘Olivia doesn’t forget where she is from,’ says a friend. ‘She knuckles down and works extremely hard. Unlike those who take part in shows such as The X Factor, it hasn’t happened overnight for her, but the slog has been worth it.’

Olivia has been encouraged in her career by her boyfriend, Eddie Burns, a drummer based in the US city of Chicago.

The pair have been together for almost a year and made their public debut in a very British fashion at Wimbledon last summer. He is, say friends, not at all jealous of her success and enjoys ‘staying in his own lane’.

He was, though, at her side when she won a Grammy for best new artist earlier this year. And it was that gong that meant she has become one of the hottest young acts in Los Angeles, where producers are queuing up to work with her.

‘Olivia is the talk of the town in Hollywood since the Grammys,’ I’m told. ‘Finally she has agreed to go out and meet them all and it is super-exciting, though she really, really didn’t want move to America.’

Homebird Olivia had been hesitant about jetting off to the States, but Eddie has persuaded her it’s the right path for her career.

One friend said: ‘Eddie has really helped calm Olivia’s nerves about moving to LA and working on new music there.

‘While he’s based in Chicago, he’s familiar with LA, and understands why someone like Olivia would need to base themselves there in order to work with the best songwriters and producers around.

‘The fact that he’s American himself has really helped shift Olivia’s stance on the move.’

Before she jets off to Tinseltown in August, Olivia will embark on her mammoth tour which kicks off in the UK in April, before she moves to the US in August with a headline show in San Francisco. Her US dates include already near sell-out shows in Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Denver.

‘She has to pinch herself sometimes,’ says a friend. ‘She can’t quite believe it is happening to her. Standing outside Wood Green station seems a very long time ago, but it’s a memory she’ll carry for ever.’