Mao (singer-songwriter)

Mao, stage name of Mauro Gurlino (born 16 April 1971, Turin, Italy) is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, radio and television host and actor.

An artist mainly known for his work as a singer-songwriter and radio and television presenter, active since the late 1980s, he achieved national fame in the 1990s as the leader of the music group Mao e la Rivoluzione and for his co-hosting with Andrea Pezzi of the TV programme Kitchen broadcast on MTV Italy.

He has earned a degree in History and Criticism of Cinema at the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy of the University of Turin.

A creative and in-depth critique discussing the musical film Yuppi du by Adriano Celentano was among his final thesis topics.

“He is and has been anything”, as once he was defined by a journalist describing his eclectic thirty-five-year career.

He has been leader in the Nineties of the band Mao e la Rivoluzione, publishing two albums for Virgin Records (Sale and Casa, attending Sanremo Giovani with the song Romantico and performing the opening act for Oasis), presenter with Andrea Pezzi for TV shows broadcast on MTV Italy (Kitchen, Hot, Romalive, Tiziana, Tokusho), speaker for radio stations since the high school (Radio Deejay, Rai Radio 1, Radio Flash and Radio Città Futura), actor both in long films (20 Venti by Marco Pozzi, 500! by Giovanni Robbiano, Lorenzo Vignolo and Matteo Zingirian, Lost Love (Perdutoamor) by Franco Battiato, Roundtrip (A/R Andata + Ritorno) and A Liberal Passion (Passione sinistra) by Marco Ponti, I soliti idioti: Il film by Enrico Lando) and in short films (directed by Enrico Iacovoni, Nicola Rondolino, Igor Mendolia and Guido Norzi).

Over the years, he has collaborated with several musicians, among which, Delta V, Max Gazzè and Morgan, producer of his first solo record Black mokette, released by Sony Music, followed by the soundtrack for the film 500!, released by Mescal.

Together with Santabarba, he played as resident band for the music TV show Scalo 76 broadcast on Rai 2.

Rai, the Italian national television, had him as well as resident musician for the radio show Ventura Football Club broadcast on Rai Radio 1.

For twenty years, he has been organising showcases for the Turin nightclubbing scene through the soundtrack contests Duel, the song contests LaBase and the talk shows Il Salotto di Mao, formats which have hosted more than 1,000 artists.

He was member for ten years of the trio Le Voci del Tempo, a band telling the Italian history in clubs and theatres with shows mixing images, readings and songs.

In 2010 he published his second solo record, Piume pazze, distributed for free on internet, and two novels Meglio tardi che Mao (Express Edizioni) and Mao sogna Celentano e gliele canta (Arcana Edizioni).

From 2014, he has been member of the Roba forte squad, cult radio show broadcast live from a club.

He is owner and manager of CortoCorto STUDIO, an indie recording and production studio located in the heart of San Salvario neighborhood in Turin.

Between 2019 and 2020 he returned on the record market with the singles Nudi alla meta and Le cose and the music video of Scusa caro vicino, born from the artistic collaboration with the writer Enrica Tesio and produced by DJ Aladyn and Max Bellarosa from Radio Deejay.

Also in 2020, in a duet with Il Tusco, he released the music video for Velenosa.

In 2022, exactly twenty-five years after the release of the album Casa, Mao surprisingly published the music video for Stringimi #25, recorded as a duet with Bianco and filmed at the Murazzi del Po in front of the historic Giancarlo club.