Massimo was born in the early sixties in Jesolo, in Northern Italy, very close to the Adriatic Sea. His childhood and teenage years were lived in a place where the long winters, often clouded by fog, are interrupted by chaotic and crowded summers. He started forming his first rock and blues bands when he was about 20, which helped him understand his true “street minstrel” nature that accompanied him in his travels through Europe. His university education was completed only years later, earning him a degree in contemporary history. The many part-time jobs were merely a means to guarantee survival to a man in his twenties, in search of a musical language from masters of mainstream rock and blues that would eventually become part of himself and his expression.

Massimo signed his first contract with Warner Music, launching “S. Valentino” at the end of 1988, recorded in London in the summer of that year. The record’s title track obtained a noticeable success and became a radio hit. The ballades are a singular blend of rock and author’s songs, the road less travelled in Italy in those years. It was a fresh, brave and spontaneous recording with the limits and ingenuity of all first albums. Massimo’s numerous television appearances on the top music and non-music shows, were endured with some sort of discomfort by this fundamentally solitary and introvert musician, who was not that interested in the show business.

The second album, released by Warner Music at the end of 1990, was entitled “Nessuna Resa Mai”. “Little” Steven Van Zandt, the famous guitarist and co-producer of some of Springsteen’s greatest albums, decided to join Massimo on his second project. The final product is magical in every imaginable way, with true “rolling stones” sounds and no falsities. “Pure” rock without compromise, combined with ethnic, poetry and street rock. Not to mention the involvement of well-known musicians (including Flavio Premoli and Lucio “violino” Fabbri - PFM). Its videos were broadcasted almost everywhere and the album was very well received not only in Italy but also in other European countries. Many years after its issue, Van Zandt remembered this record as one of his best productions, and referred to Massimo as “one of the best European rockers”.

Massimo then terminated his relationship with Warner, deciding to produce his next album, “Rock in Italia”, himself while at the same time entrusting some songs to Massimo Bubola, a talented Italian artist, co-author of some songs of Fabrizio De Andrè. The record pursued the same tracks as the previous albums, but perhaps paid the price of poor promotional visibility. Its remarkable songs include “Solo come Te” and “Ultimo Ballo”, which are still two of Massimo’s best production. The album achieved an unexpected success in Japan, one of the few countries where the previous albums were not published.         

From 1994 to 1998, Massimo was linked to a new, independent label (Dig it Intl.) that signed him for two contrasting albums, on of which was “Non Mollare.”, which marked the end of Massimo’s relationship with Elio Fabro, his guitarist and collaborator on all of his preceding songs. The album is bittersweet, the voice is sometimes voluntarily “monotonous”, but is also very rock-based, with songs like “Addio Italia” and “Giustizia e Libertà”. More than one critic referred to the album as that of a “wounded artist”, who refuses his world and is looking for new reasons for going ahead.

The second album, “Priviero”, was produced by Lucio Fabbri. It is a true songwriter’s work, where intense acoustic ballads prevail and the search for poetry in the lyrics is even more marked. Songs such as “Romeo e Giulietta una Sera di Fine Maggio” and “Nordest” reach into your soul and seem to anticipate the sense of tranquillity found by the artist.

In 2000, Massimo had material for a new album, but he was instead asked to do what’s referred to as a “best of”. This is how “Poetika” is born, a very different “best of”, reinforced with new songs, such as “Grande Mare”, where rock and lyrics find a stunning meeting point and which many critics dubbed as one of the most beautiful and emotional ballads of the year, and “Fragole a Milano”. This album saw the great contribution of Giancarlo Galli, as co-arranger and amazing multi-talented musician, and Paolo Siconolfi, in the important role of technician and sound creator. The album was followed by numerous concerts and various live exhibitions, emotionally rich, full of energy and, perhaps, of Massimo’s new found love for his own music.

In 2003 “Testimone” (Edel) was published. A truly excellent record where rock, blues and ballads, fuse in a breathtaking mosaic of music, filled with much intensity and emotions that follow one another effortlessly. Sergio De Agostini, Massimo’s then guitarist and right-arm man, co-arranged the music of this album, enriched by songs like “Nikolajevka” (which still now often closes Massimo’s concerts), another small gem that combines poetry with history, documenting the peasant-soldiers on whom give some of his songs are based. “I believe that this album is a turning point of my career as musician. In other words… Sometimes you are so lucky that, at a certain point in your life, you realise that you really don’t care, that it is not important to you either to go to certain places so that your local shop-owner can then say he saw you on television, or what some bought musical critics can write. You make your own music. For your people, for those who buy your records and come to your concerts and also for yourself, because this is what you do in your life and, especially, because you are a free man….”.

During 2004, Massimo dedicated much of his energy to recording a new compilation of Italian music of which he was artistic director. The album, “Poetarock” (Edel), includes his Nikolajevka and his remaking of a classic song of Luigi Tenco. The album was developed in collaboration with Cesvi, an NPO that is active in finding a cure for and preventing Aids, particularly in Africa.

“Dolce resistenza” (Universal), released at the end of 2006, is most likely Massimo’s best production. An album full of emotional aggression, lyricism, passion and energy. There is a single and strong main theme that takes hold, Massimo’s desire to narrate the stories and lives of those that we could call “resilient souls”. This has always been the theme running through his work and is now presented at its best. “La Strada del Davai” and “Ciao Amore Ciao”, which, in its original anti-militarist version, is now reinterpreted with a rock outfit (these songs were, moreover, played at the last evening of the Tenco Award, which saw Massimo as a guest), accompany songs like “Vincere”, “Biglietto di un Musicista di Strada” and, above all, the title track “Dolce Resistenza”. These are songs that give strong emotions to those who listen to them, go to the concerts, join and, in a certain way, share, the same route. His voice is empowered, it becomes stronger and stronger with emotions and some musical journalists have defined it as “the best and most intense voice of the Italian rock”. This album was co-produced with the guitarist Alex Cambise, who has the ability to bring Massimo’s ideas into life in the most effective way, one of the few musicians capable to have a “total” view of a song. The “Gang” and the “Luf” play as guests in two songs. The great success achieved by this album, including commercially, is probably a testimony of Massimo’s best period ever.

Lastly, “Rock & Poems” was released in 2007. An unexpected album which can be superficially defined as a cover album, but which is actually for the most part the re-interpretation and re-arrangement of great classic songs of the 60’s and 70’s. Massimo reaffirms his roots and pays a tribute to Dylan, Waits, Springsteen and many others. Here one can find the old minstrel who, in his twenties, used to play many of these same songs in the street and who often, still now, sings them on stage with passion, energy and gratefully. These are the songs that, to most of us, meant “salvation and damnation”, loud guitars and emotional voices, which is exactly… rock and poems. The album includes the English version of “Dolce Resistenza” and “La Strada del Davai”, which probably anticipate a future album entirely in English. This work obtained unexpected success, almost as if it were somehow waited for, or in the air and, to a certain extent, almost due.

“Rock and Poems” was Buscadero’s pick of the year as the best Italian album in 2007, following the survey launched by this prestigious magazine of mainstream rock music. But the most important thing is that, once again, Massimo has convinced his fans to go with him that little bit farther, in a journey that will soon have new stories to be told.