Olivia
Lewis was born on the 18th October, 1978. At an early age,
she started showing interest towards singing and performing and eventually
started attending singing lessons. This was followed by a string of
successful participations in local song festivals. Her winning streak
was formidable and her huge collection of trophies is full of memories
from these past festivals when she was so young.
Her first participation in the Song for Europe Festival was actually
at age 14 as backing vocalist. A year later she was also backing vocalist
for William Mangion’s winning ‘This time’. She just
missed participating in the Eurovision Song Contest of that year because
of her young age.
In the mean time Olivia started focusing on various musical styles.
Her preferred styles are R&B and soul. She likes listening to singers
such as Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey and a host of other
performers who have made their name in the black music scene.
After a few years, Olivia was encouraged to start training for jazz
singing. This took most of her time, but results were soon to be forthcoming.
In fact Olivia was the first Maltese singer to perform in the renowned
Malta Jazz Festival together with the Paul Giordmaina Jazz Quarter.
Her performance was memorable.
Olivia has participated as lead singer in the Song for Europe Festival
since she was 16 years old. In the process she has collaborated with
the best composers on the island such as Paul Abela, Dominic Galea,
Paul Giordmaina, Philip Vella and Ray Agius amongst a host of others.
Her most memorable performances came in these last two participations.
During last year’s festival she performed ‘Take a look’
which was written by Paul Giordmaina and Fleur Balzan. During this festival
she was classified first by the jury and second in the televoting, just
missing the top spot by a few points. ‘Déjà vu’,
written by the winning duo Philip Vella and Gerard James Borg got 11,369
votes, coming second and missing the top spot by 500 votes.
Olivia has also participated successfully in a host of foreign festivals.
She has sung in the UK, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Serbia
and Montenegro, Kazakstan and a host of others. She placed first in
the Lithuanian and Bulgarian festivals and second in the Kazakstan festival.
2005 marked the release of Olivia’s first cd-single which contains
Déjà vu and also a remix of this song made by DJ Armani.
2007 has already been a big year for Olivia. She has just recently won
the Malta Song for Europe with her song 'Vertigo'. It was a landslide
victory for Olivia, her performance getting almost 31,000 votes. As
a result she will be representing Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest
Semi Finals on the 10th May, 2007 in Helsinki.
Olivia is also a leading singer in the entertainment industry and her
schedule is often packed with singing at events, hotels, concerts and
other activities. She also participates in a daily television show called
‘Kalamita’ which attracts the highest viewership in the
afternoon broadcasts on the island.