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Mauro Picotto (born 25 December 1966) is an Italian
electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...
producer and DJ, and previously a member of the Italian
Euro house Eurodance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of rap, techno and Eurodisco. This genre of music is heavily influenced by the use of rich ...
group "R.A.F.". He became well known as a solo artist with songs including " Komodo (Save a Soul)", "Pulsar", "Iguana", and "Lizard". He has collaborated with other electronica/trance musicians such as
Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( , ), is a Dutch DJ and record producer. He was voted "The Greatest DJ of All Time" by ''Mix (magazine), Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, h ...
and
Mario Più Mario Più (born Mario Piperno on August 26, 1965, in Livorno, Italy) is an Italian professional disc jockey. His 1999 single, "Communication", also known as "The Communication Song", is notable for being mainly constructed from the interference ...
. He now promotes his own club night, Meganite (named after an early 21st-century track of his), which has run for consecutive years annually since 2004 at
Privilege Ibiza NVRS'' previously known as Ku Club (1979–95) and Privilege Ibiza (95-19) is the "world's largest nightclub" according to the Guinness Book of Records, also defined as a superclub with a capacity of 10,000 people and encompassing 6,500 m² (69 ...
. He now produces under his own record label, Bakerloo.


Biography

Born in the Italian town of Cavour, near
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
, Picotto was raised in a family of
stonemason Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar ...
s and dancers. His father ran a mason's yard called CRW, a name Mauro would later use as a pseudonym for his trance side-project. Picotto longed to start making his own productions, but felt that to be successful he must first become a disc jockey (DJ). After winning the Walky Cup competition on national TV, an event for the top DMC DJs in Italy, he met with Daniele Davoli, who was there to promote his
Black Box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...
single " Ride on Time", and this led Picotto towards record producing. His first track, "We Gonna Get", produced under the name R.A.F., became a
top 20 A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, ofte ...
hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...
across much of Europe. Between 1992 and 1996, R.A.F. would release a number of dance hits, as well as achieving a top 40 UK Singles Chart hit with "We've Got to Live Together". The song was co-written by Picotto and a number of other producers at Media Studios, including Media label boss
Gianfranco Bortolotti Gianfranco Bortolotti (; born 2 May 1959) is an Italian electronic music producer and manager of Media Records and Media Studio. He was a member of Cappella, and 49ers who had several hits, and Fits of Gloom, who had a UK No. 47 hit with "Heave ...
. Picotto and Bortolotti would see greater success a couple of years later together when another of their co-writes, " Light My Fire", became a big Eurodance hit when remixed by Bortolotti's Cappella, with the song (once licensed to Pete Waterman's PWL Records) becoming a number 7 hit in the United Kingdom in the spring of 1994. As well as Club House, Picotto had
remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
and co-writing credits on many of Bortolotti's other Eurodance projects such as Cappella (best known for hits like "
U Got 2 Let the Music "U Got 2 Let the Music" is a song by Italian Eurodance group Cappella (band), Cappella, released in September 1993, by label Media, as the fourth single from their second studio album, ''U Got 2 Know'' (1994). The track samples "Sounds Like a Me ...
" and "Move on Baby") and the 49ers. In 1996, Bortolotti decided to make Picotto a partner in Media Records alongside him, while a track released under Picotto's own name, "Bakerloo Symphony", ended up being a number one in Italy for eight weeks. 1998 saw the release of the
Gatecrasher Gatecrasher is an international clubbing brand made famous by the "Gatecrasher" (later "Crasher") dance music events, which were held at the Republic nightclub in Sheffield, UK during the late 1990s and early 2000s. The promoters of the brand ...
anthem "Lizard (Gonna Get You)". The track ended up being a top 30 hit on the UK Singles Chart, and was followed by two further instalments in the reptilian trilogy: "Iguana" (#39) and "Komodo (Save a Soul)", which would give Picotto the highest UK chart position of his solo career – number 13. This would see him make his only solo performance on
BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...
's ''
Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...
''. Picotto was the first DJ to mix live on the show. Later tracks he was involved in also made an impact on the UK
chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...
. "I Feel Love" – released under the pseudonym CRW – reached number 15 in 2000, whilst "Communication (Somebody Answer the Phone)" – which he produced alongside Mario Più – reached the UK top 5 at the end of 1999. His remix of "On the Beach" by
York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
also helped to propel that song into the UK top 5 in spring 2000, when it was selected by the record company Manifesto to be used as the official radio edit. Two solo albums, ''The Double Album'' (2000) and ''The Others (2002)'' followed, as well as remixes and productions for
Freddie Mercury Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter who achieved global fame as the lead vocalist and pianist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. Regarded as one of the gre ...
,
Jimmy Somerville James William Somerville (born 22 June 1961) is a singer from Glasgow, Scotland who rose to prominence in the 1980s with the synth-pop groups Bronski Beat and the Communards. With Bronski Beat, Somerville achieved commercial success with the 1 ...
, the
Pet Shop Boys Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide and were listed as the most successful duo in UK music h ...
and U2. Upon leaving Media Records in 2002, Picotto formed Bakerloo Music, as well as the new label Alchemy, releasing several club tracks, including "New Time New Place" and the ''Alchemy EP''. That same year, he launched his Meganite party at the Miami
Winter Music Conference The Winter Music Conference (WMC) is a week-long electronic music conference, held every March in Miami Beach, Florida, United States since 1985. It is also known as the premiere platform for electronic dance music. The conference brings togethe ...
. On 7 May 2005, Picotto headlined the dance stage at
BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend (R1BW) (previously known as One Big Weekend, for 2012 as Radio 1's Hackney Weekend, and for 2018 as BBC Music's Biggest Weekend) is a British music festival run by BBC Radio 1. It is held once a year, in a different l ...
in Sunderland, in front of thousands of people. Picotto released several ''Meganite Ibiza'' albums on the new label, Big in Ibiza. His Meganite party is held every Wednesday at Ibiza's Privilege club. In May 2017, he released the album ''A Call in the Club''.


Discography


Albums

* ''BXR Superclub Compilation Volume 1'' (with
Mario Più Mario Più (born Mario Piperno on August 26, 1965, in Livorno, Italy) is an Italian professional disc jockey. His 1999 single, "Communication", also known as "The Communication Song", is notable for being mainly constructed from the interference ...
Feat. Zicky – Franchino) (1999) * ''Tranceformer 2000'' (with Lange) (1999) * ''Pressure'' (feat. Megamind &
Mario Più Mario Più (born Mario Piperno on August 26, 1965, in Livorno, Italy) is an Italian professional disc jockey. His 1999 single, "Communication", also known as "The Communication Song", is notable for being mainly constructed from the interference ...
& R.A.F.) (1999) * ''The Album'' (2000) * ''Make Yourself Heard @ Homelands'' (2000) * ''The Double Album'' (2000) * ''BXR Superclub Compilation Volume 2'' (with
Mario Più Mario Più (born Mario Piperno on August 26, 1965, in Livorno, Italy) is an Italian professional disc jockey. His 1999 single, "Communication", also known as "The Communication Song", is notable for being mainly constructed from the interference ...
Feat. Zicky & Franchino) (2000) * ''The Sound of BXR'' (2000) * ''The Lizard Man'' (2000) * ''VIP Lounge'' (2001) * ''In the Mix – Metamorphose'' (2001) * ''The Triple Album'' (Special Edition) (2001) * ''Maximal.FM Compilation Vol. 2'' (2001) * ''Selected Works / In the Mix'' (2001) * ''Rush Hour'' (2001) * ''Metamorphose & Awesome!!!'' (2002) * ''The Others'' (2002) * ''Live in Ibiza – Essential Selection'' (2002) * ''Italian Techno Master'' (2002) * ''Meganite Compilation'' (2004) * ''Superclub'' (2006) * ''Meganite Compilation Volume 2'' (2006) * ''Meganite³'' (2007) * ''Now & Then'' (2007) * ''Meganite Ibiza 2007'' (2007) * ''Meganite – Privilege, Ibiza'' (2008) * ''Meganite'' (2009) * ''Best of Mauro Picotto'' (2010) * ''2010'' (2010) * ''Raveline Mix Sessions 036'' (2011) * ''Twentyeleven (Unmixed & Mixed)'' (2011) * ''A Call in the Club'' (2017) * ''From the 80's Til Now'' (2023)


Singles


Awards and nominations

* German Dance Awards: Best International DJ, Best Producer, Best Radio Hit * Danish Dance Awards: Best International DJ *
Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...
Swiss Dance Awards: Best International DJ * BBm Magazine Irish Dance Awards: Best International DJ * Deejay Magazine Spanish Dance Awards Best International DJ * TMF Dutch Dance Awards: Best International DJ *
RTÉ 2fm RTÉ 2fm, or 2FM as it is more commonly referred to, is an Irish radio station operated by RTÉ. The station specialises in current popular music and chart hits and is the second national radio station in Ireland. History The station commenc ...
Irish Dance Music Awards: Best International DJ * DJ Awards 2005 Ibiza: Winner * Voted in the Top 100 DJs in TheDJList.com (US) and DJ Mag (UK)


References


External links


Mauro Picotto at Discogs.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Picotto, Mauro 1966 births Italian electronic dance music DJs Italian trance musicians Living people People from the Metropolitan City of Turin Italian remixers