Olly Alexander: 10 Facts about the United Kingdom’s Eurovision 2024 singer

Ever since it was announced that Olly Alexander will be representing the United Kingdom at Eurovision 2024, we’ve been going ‘Dizzy’ with with anticipation for his Eurovision 2024 entry, and we simply cannot wait to see what Olly Alexander brings to the table in Malmö. But what do we actually know about the British modern-day icon? Here, we bring you 10 Facts about Olly Alexander, ranging from his career, to who he is and his love for Eurovision.

He’s a huge star in his native U.K., for both his music career and increcible acting. As one of the most recognisable names in the country, there’s lots to dive into before he reveals the full version of the assumed electro-banger ‘Dizzy’ on March 1st.

10 Facts about Olly Alexander

1. Who is Olly Alexander?

To start off, let’s see who Olly actually is. His full name is Oliver Alexander Thornton, and he was born in the north-English (and former Eurovision host) town of Harrogate. However, he spent most of his childhood in the south west of England, in the town of Coleford, Somerset county – near the border with Wales.

He wrote his first song aged 10 on his father’s keyboard, the beginning of becoming the artist he is today. He became an actor first and later joined the band Years & Years. Speaking of which…

2. The frontman of Years & Years

Olly was the face and frontman of British electropop group Years & Years between 2012-2023, after joining when bandmate Mike Goldsworthy overheard him singing in the shower. 

He had huge success with the band (more on that later), releasing 3 albums and 26 singles under the name. In 2021 Years & Years became a solo project for Olly after his 2 colleagues left the group, and the album “Night Call” graced our ears.

When Olly announced he would be representing the United Kingdom at Eurovision 2024, he confirmed he will be leaving the moniker behind. He will now be going forwards just as Olly Alexander, starting with our beloved contest!

3. Huge chart success across Europe and beyond

Even if you’re thinking “I’ve never heard of Olly/Years & Years, why is everyone so excited?”…there’s a good chance you actually have heard their music before. Their breakout single “King” was a colossal hit domestically, and abroad. They hit the top of the UK Singles Chart, and charted high in six other Eurovision-voting countries (Australia, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands and Sweden) – five of which were Top 10. Other UK Top 10 singles for Years & Years include “Shine” and “If You’re Over Me”. 

This doesn’t even cover his album success, with 2 albums reaching the top of the UK Albums Chart (the debut “Communion” and his solo project “Night Call”), and another reaching the Top 3. These also charted in the six countries mentioned before, again almost all being in the Top 10.

4. Olly is also a critically-revered actor

Olly Alexander actually started in career in acting, debuting in limited-series children’s drama Summerhill as ‘Ned’. He then acted in various indie films and also performing in London’s West End. He shared the stage with British film icons Judi Dench and Ben Wishaw!

His biggest role to date was as Richie Tozer in the BBC & HBO drama series ‘It’s A Sin’. The show depicts the experience of a group of young LGBTQ+ people living through the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980’s and early nineties. The show was hard-hitting and critics raved over it, and especially over Olly’s performance. His character goes through an intense emotional arc of elation of moving to London, the fear of the pandemic and homphobia in the UK, and inevitable grief from losing loved ones. His character faces questions and denial over mortality, and Olly depicted the character so incredibly that it became one of the largest talking points out of the show.

It is unsurprising then, that Olly was nominted for a BAFTA Television Award (The British Academy awards – comparable with the Emmy’s) for Best Actor. He was also nominated for a Critic’s Choice Award for Best Actor in a Limited Series, an incredible achievement.

5. Olly has done many iconic duets

Olly Alexander has managed to snag the kind of duets most artists can only dream of! In his chart releases, he’s worked with Swedish icons such as Tove Lo and EDM star Galantis (on ‘Sweet Talker’, a personal favourite). He also released ‘Play’ with Grammy-nominated Jax Jones, a fellow British chart-stormer.

However, Olly is very well-known for his incredible live collaborations. When the TV show ‘It’s a Sin’ was released, Olly covered the show’s namesake song, originally by The Pet Shop Boys. He later performed this at the famous BRIT Awards in 2021, with none other than THE Elton John.

The star-power didn’t stop here, with Olly bringing in some equally huge names for his BBC New Year’s special on New Year’s Eve also in 2021. If you asked all queer artists in the world who they would love to work with, many would reply with Kylie Minogue. Olly got to do exactly this, singing ‘A Second To Midnight’. He also sang with the afore-mentioned eighties ground-breakers The Pet Shop Boys twice, for the second time, after performing with them back in 2019.

6. A leading LGBTQ+ campaigner and rights advocate

It’s no secret that Olly is a passionate rights activist for the LGBTQ+ community. He has used two opportunities to deliver an impassionaed speech about queer rights on one of the biggest stages in the world: Glastonbury Festival. In 2016 he spoke to the crowd about the devastating Orlando nightclub attack, and the safety of LGBTQ+ people. In 2019, the group were on the biggest stage of the festival – the world-famous Pyramid Stage. Here Olly spoke about his experience being gay, and celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York. He told the audience of up to 200,000 people about the black transgender women who fought for the rights that queer people hold today.

In 2020, continuing the celebrations of the 50th anniersary of Stonewall, Queerty magazine named Olly in their list of 50 Heroes “leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people”. In the same year he later won LGBT Celebrity of the Year at the British LGBT Awards.

7. Olly’s love for the Eurovision Song Contest

After announcing that he will be representing the UK at Eurovision, Olly gushed about his love for the show. In an interview with BBC Breakfast, when asked about how far back his Eurovision memories go, Olly said:

I think they go back to being a kid, and watching the show with my family and like, ordering pizza and spending all night in front of the TV watching this insane, amazing show

Olly then called the contest a “spiritual homecoming” for him. He described Eurovision as a “celebration of joy, and fun” and particularly said he loves “the theatrics, the drama, there’s such an amazing chaos”. The different musical styles and varying types of performers were other things he said he admired about the event, and of course the fact it’s camp. Naturally!

8. And his favourite Eurovision song?

Unsurprising to many, when asked what his favourite Eurovision entry of all time was – like many modern contest alumni before him – he said his pick is “Euphoria” by Loreen. It’s a classic for a reason, y’all!

9. ‘Growing Up Gay in a Straight World’

T/W: Self-harm, bullying

Olly hosted a short-documentary for the youth-aimed channel BBC Three called ‘Growing Up Gay in a Straight World’. Olly is extremely open in this about his past mental health struggles. Much of these problems he attributes to homophobia faced from when he was 9 years old and into adulthood. On the hardships LGBTQ+ people face, he says “I personally am yet to meet an LGBT person that hasn’t been unscathed by growing up LGBT”.

His mother features, as says she had a feeling Olly was gay when he was younger but she was scared to affirm that, due to fear of how this would affect his life.

He says that he still suffers with anxiety and depression as an adult, but he also bravely opens up about self-harm issues he faced during the worst of the bullying he faced.

10. Olly is a huge Rihanna fan

Aren’t we all? Olly appeared on The Graham Norton Show in 2021, Olly recounted a time when he’d been on the show before and met Rihanna. Did he act cool and calm? No. He said that it was one of the best nights of his life, and he “blacked out” and “didn’t remember the experience” because he was too intensely excited. He even said he’d reached over Helena Bonham Carter in order to touch Rihanna, and then watched the show back later and was rather embarrasses about it all. Oops!

He talked to her after the show, and gave her a copy of Years & Years’ 2nd album Palo Santo. he said she could throw it in the bin, but luckily Rihanna told him she would “never do that”, so that’s a happy ending I guess!

Come back for more exciting stories and facts about Olly Alexander as national final season continues and we head towards pre-parties and Malmö 2024 itself!