Best newcomer: north London-raised Olivia Dean attended the Brit School from 14
News just in from Hollywood: former Brit School pupils have scooped the Grammys.
The Brit School had a trio of Grammy winners in Los Angeles on Sunday night.
Olivia Dean, Lola Young and FKA twigs, former pupils at the specialist arts state school in Selhurst, all picked up their first Grammys, something described by Music Week as representing “a new wave of British talent making an impact on the global stage”.
The head of Universal Music UK called the made-in-Croydon triple success “a pivotal moment”.
And this in the week when another former Brit School pupil, Raye, was also recognised by the Grammys, receiving the prestigious Harry Belafonte best song for social change award for “Ice Cream Man”.
The Grammys are the Oscars of the music business, and Dean was named best new artist in the glitzy Los Angeles ceremony, following her 2025 transatlantic hit “Man I Need and So Easy (To Fall In Love)”.
Messy: Lola Young got a little tearful when she picked up her Grammy
Dean also performed live her UK No1, “Man I Need”, in the week it reached No2 in the US charts.
Young, too, was on the shortlist for the newcomer award. If she was disappointed, it wasn’t for long, as she won the Grammy for Best Pop Performance for her single “Messy”.
FKA twigs – real name Tahliah Barnett – won her Grammy for best dance/electronic album for Eusexua.
Dean is the first Brit to win best new act since Dua Lipa in 2019. Previous winners of the Grammy best new artist have included Adele and Amy Whitehouse – who also attended to the Brit School in their teens.
“I’m up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant,” Dean said in her acceptance speech on a night when several award-winners made statements opposing the US government’s brutal action against migrants.
“I’m a product of bravery and I think those people ought to be celebrated. We’re nothing without each other.”
Dean’s and Young’s Grammy wins come just weeks after they were each nominated five times for the 2026 Brit Awards – the event and organisation which lends its name, and provides funding, for the Brit School itself.
In its 35 years, the unique opportunities in the arts offered by the Brit School have seen it attract pupils from across London and the south-east. Dean, now 26, brought up in north London, attended the Brit School from 14.
“Those women are fantastic role models of what’s achievable if you give young people access to the arts,” said Stuart Worden, the school’s principal, who has taught at the Brit since 1994.
Twigged: FKA won her Grammy for best dance/electronic album
“What stood out about all of them was their great work ethic. None of these artists are overnight successes. They’ve played small venues, they’ve worked on records for years.”
FKA was only briefly at the school, but Worden told The Guardian that he remembers Dean, Young and Raye.
“They started in Year 10, all pretty close together,” he said.
“Lola and Olivia stayed for Sixth Form, Raye left after her GCSEs because she was already on her way and making money from her music.
“What Olivia, Raye and Lola have in common is that they all, from quite an early age, wanted to write about the things that matter to them… They are not manufactured, they are themselves, and that’s powerful.”
All three women are still in contact and work with the school.
And speaking about Dean, Worden said: “I think what Olivia has is charm.
“She’s a real hard worker, so she would have worked really hard on her stage presence, really hard on her stagecraft, she would have worked really hard on her songwriting.”
PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates
- If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com
As featured on Google News Showcase
- Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here
ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2026, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for an EIGHTH time in nine years, in Private Eye magazine’s annual round-up of civic cock-ups
- Inside Croydon is a member of the Independent Community News Network
