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Roman-born Alex Britti displayed a talent for music from a young age. He began playing guitar in the mid-'70s at the age of eight. By his late teens Britti had already formed and begun performing with his own trio. Playing Rome's busy club circuit, Britti became something of a local sensation, performing at important local festivals and getting his feet wet sitting in with international stars like Louisiana Red when the opportunity arose. Britti developed such a good reputation that he started getting calls to back up artists like Buddy Miles and Billy Preston when they toured through Italy. In 1990, at the age of 22, Britti was picked up by Rosa King for a European tour. The regularity of touring life enabled Britti to begin composing his own Italian material. His self-titled debut CD (1992) introduced Italian audiences to Britti as a singer/songwriter. Over the course of the next few years a number of avenues opened up to the young artist, including live performances (Primo Maggio in 1994 and 1995), TV appearances (Generazione X, 1995), and even film scoring (Uomini Senza Donne in 1995 and Stressati in 1996). The release of singles such as "Quello Che Voglio" and "Solo una Volta" primed Italian audiences for Britti's breakthrough success at the Sanremo Festival in 1999, where he took first place in the New Singer category. His second record, La Vasca, was published in 2000, selling more than a million copies. Britti has remained a regular on the stage at Sanremo and on Italian pop charts alike with subsequent releases like 3 (2003) and Festa (2006). ~ Evan C. Gutierrez

Italian rapper and producer Salmo has topped charts and broken streaming records with his aggressive, unruly mixture of hardcore hip-hop, metal, and bass-heavy electronic music. Following work with several rap, metal, and hardcore groups, he made his solo debut with 2011's The Island Chainsaw Massacre, which featured production influenced by grime, dubstep, and drum'n'bass. Subsequent full-lengths Midnite (2013), Hellvisback (2016), and Playlist (2018) all conquered the Italian charts, as Salmo performed to sold-out crowds at arenas throughout Italy and beyond.

Born Maurizio Pisciottu in the Sardinian town of Olbia, rapper and producer Salmo recorded a few demos as part of the trio Premeditazione e Dolo prior to making his own Sotto Pelle in 2004. He formed nu-metal group Skasico with his Premeditazione e Dolo bandmates, and additionally participated in hardcore punk band To Ed Gein and stoner metal group Three Pigs Trip. His first official album, however, was 2011's The Island Chainsaw Massacre, which was followed by Death U.S.B. in 2012. The Italian MTV Hip-Hop Awards named Salmo Best Crossover. He also took part in the Machete crew, whose first two mixtapes appeared in 2012.

Salmo's third album, Midnite, arrived in 2013, and became his first number one album in Italy. Recorded while on tour in support of Midnite, Sony Music issued the live album/DVD S.A.L.M.O. Documentary in 2014. The rapper's fourth studio LP, Hellvisback, appeared in early 2016 and debuted atop the Italian album chart. It featured blink-182 drummer Travis Barker on two tracks. Salmo performed at numerous European festivals throughout 2017, and his single "Perdonami" quickly reached triple-platinum status in his home country. 2018 full-length Playlist broke several streaming records upon release, with nearly all of its tracks immediately hitting the Top 20. His studio albums from Death USB to Playlist were issued as the LP box set The Complete Vinyl Edition. He produced 2019's Machete Mixtape 4, and his own Playlist Live appeared at the end of the year. He released a series of limited picture-disc singles in 2020 and released "La Canzone Nostra" (with Mace and Blanco) in 2021. ~ Andy Kellman & Marcy Donelson