Mauro Picotto - Proximus (2000)

Born on Christmas Day 1966 in the Italian town of Cavour near Torino, Mauro Picotto was raised in a family of stonemasons and dancers. His father ran a mason's yard called CRW, a name Mauro would later use as a pseudonym for one of his trance side-projects. Mauro longed to start making his own productions, but felt that to be successful he should take the route of first becoming a DJ. After winning the Walky Cup competition, an event for DMC DJs in Italy on national TV, he met with Daniele Davoli who was there to promote his Black Box single 'Ride On Time'. Mauro's first track 'We Gonna Get', produced under the name RAF, became a Top20 track across much of continental Europe. In 1996, another RAF release followed, alongside remixes and co-writing credits for Clubhouse's 'Light My Fire', Cappella's 'U Got 2 Know' and the 49ers. A track released under his own name, 'Bakerloo Symphony', ended up being IT#1 for eight weeks! He became a partner in Media Records alongside Gianfranco Bortolotti.
1998 saw the release of the gatecrasher anthem, 'Lizard (Gonna Get You)'. It hit the Top30 in the UK and was followed by two further instalments in the reptilian trilogy: 'Iguana' and 'Komodo', which would give Mauro the highest UK chart position of his career - UK#13. To promote it, he was the first DJ to mix live on Top of the Pops.
Later tracks also made an impact on the UK charts: CRW's 'I Feel Love' reached UK#15 in 2000. His remix of York's Chris Rea cover of 'On The Beach' was propelled into the UK Top5 that year.
My personal favourite track by Mauro is 'Proximus', also released in 2000. Part of the track was sampled in the British Airways TV ad at the time.
Two solo albums followed, as well as remixes and productions for Freddie Mercury, Jimmy Somerville, the Pet Shop Boys and U2. Upon leaving Media Records in 2002, Mauro formed Bakerloo Music, as well as a new label Alchemy. That same year he launched his Meganite party at the Miami Winter Music Conference. More recently he released several Meganite Ibiza albums on a new label Big In Ibiza. His 'Meganite' party is held every Wednesday at Ibiza'a Privilege club.

Mauro Picotto - Proximus (2000)