Mahmood

Alessandro Mahmoud, known by the stage name Mahmood, is one of the most successful singers and songwriters to emerge on the Italian scene since the 2010s. To date he has earned 29 platinum and 7 gold records in Italy, 6 platinum and 3 gold records abroad, and has racked up over 3 billion total streams.

He was born in Milan on 12 September 1992, to an Italian mother and an Egyptian father. After his father left the family, he grew up in Gratosoglio with his mother and began studying singing and guitar at age 12. He first stepped into the spotlight on "X Factor 6" in 2012, where he joined the group Under Uomini. He put himself through his studies working in a bar, all the while remaining deeply attached to Sardinia, his mother's homeland, and to his roots there.

His real musical journey began with theory and classical singing lessons from maestro Gianluca Valenti. Once he came of age, the Milanese talent decided to take piano lessons in order to broaden his compositional range. After collaborating with producer Pierpaolo Peroni, with whom he made his first single "Fallin Rain", sung in English, in 2013 Mahmood began working with Marcello Grilli and Francesco Fugazza, young producers (under the moniker MUUT) with whom he put together his first tracks, drawing heavily on electronic music.

Three years after his X Factor discovery, he won Area Sanremo in 2015 with the song "Dimentica", which also earned him fourth place in the Newcomers category of the Festival in 2016.

During this period, Mahmood released the singles "Pesos" and "Uramaki", the latter presented at the Wind Summer Festival, and began collaborating with major names on the Italian scene. He wrote three songs for Marco Mengoni, including "Hola (I say)", recorded as a duet with Tom Walker, sang with Fabri Fibra in 2017 on the track "Luna", released on "Fenomeno". Alongside Dario Faini, he wrote "Nero Bali" for Elodie and Michele Bravi, a song that went on to earn Platinum certification.

These big names accompanied him until 2018, when he released his first EP, "Rebel Without a Cause", where his sound and style come across as more mature and forceful. It was the title track "Gioventù bruciata" that won him Sanremo Giovani, paving the way for him to compete among the Big Artists at the Ariston in 2019.

Among his closest collaborators is also Guè Pequeno, with whom he duetted on a different version of "Soldi" and on "Doppio Whisky", part of the soundtrack to "Sinatra", the rapper's series broadcast on Tim Vision.

The turning point in Mahmood's career came with his win at the 69th Sanremo Festival in 2019 with the song "Soldi", ahead of Ultimo and Il Volo. The performance is flawless, his timbre somewhere between a Nubian minstrel and his friend Mengoni. Meanwhile the lyrics, as intimate as they are heartfelt, draw the listener into a moving family dialogue. The double refrain, in turn, is just as catchy. "Soldi" would become one of the key tracks on the album "Rebel Without a Cause", which debuted at number one on the Fimi chart. "Soldi", co-written with Dario Faini and Charlie Charles, went Platinum less than a month after its release and stayed atop every chart. The song tells of the financial interests hidden behind seemingly sincere relationships, featuring a line in Arabic ("Waladi waladi habibi ta'aleena"), roughly translatable as "My son, my son, my love, come here". Other tracks on the album include intense songs like "Il Nilo nel Naviglio" and "Remo", as well as the more upbeat "Sabbie mobili". The album also features another duet with Fabri Fibra on the track "Anni 90". Mahmood represented Italy at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv. His first live show in his home city of Milan came instead at MI AMI in late May.

Also in 2019 came a new hit, "Calipso", together with Charlie Charles, Dardust, Sfera Ebbasta and Fabri Fibra, which dominated the charts and was certified Platinum, while "Soldi" kept racking up successes: its 100 million streams (39 million of which came from abroad) made it the most-streamed Italian song of all time on Spotify and Apple Music, featured on more than 1,400 playlists worldwide. In late August he released the track "Barrio" (certified double Platinum), which reached 159 million streams.

In 2020 Mahmood released "Rapide", a ballad far removed from his usual sound, certified Platinum within just a few months. The "Dèi" tour, originally planned for 2020, was postponed to 2021 and includes dates across Europe. In the meantime came "Eternantena", a track inspired by the lockdown period, and "Moonlight popolare" feat. Massimo Pericolo, a rising new star of Italian rap. The track also boasts production from Crookers, a major name in international urban and electronic music.

In March 2021 came "Inuyasha", the single born from Mahmood and Dardust's collaboration, a metaphor for the complexity of relationships. The track, certified Gold, preceded his album "Ghettolimpo", released on 11 June. It's an album that sounds both sinister and familiar at once, perpetually balanced between radio-friendly melodicism, tight rhythms, and electronic digressions unusual for an artist of European renown.

One could be left dazed by such a mix of glittering mythological references and studied postmodern poses, yet the effect is intoxicating. Between pop artifice and the courage to take risks, there emerges a fresh, nerve-wracked, angular inspiration for which comparisons are hard to find. Among the standout tracks are the single "Zero", the hits "Rapide" and "Dorado", and the summer smash "Klan". Every track on the new album presents the listener with the story of a character trying to find deeper meaning in their life, sketching out a many-faceted reality. Also taken from "Ghettolimpo" is the single "Rubini" feat. Elisa: co-written by the two artists during a stay in Tuscany, and produced by Dardust, it's an autobiographical song recounting Mahmood's teenage years. A turbulent time of self-discovery and first relationships, a tale of the typical unease tied to that age and of early adventures with friends. In August, Mahmood returned to the stage for the Ghettolimpo Tour, playing squares and theatres across Italy before wrapping up in Taormina.

2022 begins for Mahmood with another major test: taking the stage at the Ariston as a contestant in the 72nd edition of the Sanremo Festival 2022, performing “Brividi” alongside Blanco. The two artists, who thrill audiences and win over the crowd from the very first night, take home the Sanremo victory, and their “Brividi” smashes Spotify Italy's single-day streaming record, reaching fifth place on Spotify's global chart and the top spot on the Top Songs Debut Global chart as well as the charts of every digital platform.

After the spring tour and taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin in May, Mahmood carries on through 2022 with a run of shows on the “Ghettolimpo Summer Tour”, which opens on July 7 at the Cavea Parco Della Musica in Rome and wraps up on September 5 in Vicenza.

In October 2022, “Mahmood, il docufilm” is presented at the Rome Film Fest – produced by Red Carpet, a company of the ILBE Group, in collaboration with Tulipani Management and Prime Video – telling his story, and it goes on to win the “Best Docu Film Award” at Filming Italy Los Angeles 2023.

After climbing back up the charts with his new single “Cocktail d’amore”, Mahmood takes part with the track “Tuta gold” in the Sanremo Festival 2024, finishing fifth. On February 16, 2024, his new album “In Other People's Beds“ is released.