Mezzala

Born in Turin in 1975 but Genoese by adoption, Michele Bitossi gave up on a career in football to pick up a Fender Telecaster while still a teenager. He put a band together, and from 1998 to 2001 he was the leader of Laghisecchi, one of the most highly regarded outfits during the tail end of the golden decade of the Italian indie scene. With Laghisecchi, besides the self-titled EP, he released the albums "Radical Kitsch" (for Sony Music, already a major label, in 1998) and "Très Bien: Piano B" (for Edel, in 2001). The band split up after the release of their second record, but from the ashes of Laghisecchi, Bitossi founded Numero6, who recorded the albums "Iononsono" (Warner Music, 2003), "Dovessi mai svegliarmi" (V2, 2006), "I Love You Fortissimo" (Supermota, 2010) and "Dio c'è" (Urtovox, 2013), as well as the EP "Quando arriva la gente si sente meglio" (Greenfog, 2008), which features a collaboration with the celebrated American singer-songwriter Bonnie "Prince" Billy.

In 2011 Bitossi launched his solo career under the name Mezzala with the albums "The problem of turning around" (Urtovox) and "Irrequieto" (2015). In 2019 came "A noi due", the first record released under his own name, followed in 2026 by "All Defenses".

A graduate in Modern Literature and a teacher of Italian and History at a technical high school, Michele has also tried his hand at writing, publishing the book "Piccoli esorcismi tra amici" in April 2012 and, in January 2025, the novel "Ma io quasi niente", which made the longlist for the Premio Strega.

In September 2024 he released his first podcast, "Prendo la sciarpa e vengo da te", exclusively for RaiPlay Original.

He has also written for other major names in Italian music, including Mauro Ermanno Giovanardi and Francesco Gabbani.