Bio.
Through his music, Don Jio reminds us that life is too precious to be taken too seriously, encouraging to explore the infinite possibilities of self-expression and create a world where love and music know no bounds.
Guided by a hedonistic spirit, Don Jio celebrates the pleasures of life and encourages others to do the same. His songs resonate with optimism, humor and irony, capturing the essence of the modern rock star and Latin lover.
In a society that often idolizes perfection, Don Jio embraces the inherent flaws that make life and love so beautifully human. His songs provide a comforting embrace, reminding us that it's okay to stumble, rise again, and navigate through the imperfect journey.
As a queer artist, Don Jio proudly embraces his identity and channels his experiences into his music. He creates a safe space where the LGBTQ+ community can find understanding and empowerment, celebrating diversity and the beauty of individuality. Through his music, he challenges societal norms and inspires others to embrace their true selves without fear or judgment.
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Don Jio never stopped traveling extensively along Thailand, South Asia, Indonesia, and recently fell in love with Latin culture, spending winters in Mexico and Colombia. Don Jio is a passionate traveler who has encountered a wide variety of music along his journeys, and these experiences have shaped his sound. In his spare time, he immerses himself in ethnic, spiritual, and world music, as well as Latin rhythms; all of which continue to inspire and influence his work.
Don Jio has spent the last decade in Berlin’s modern underground scene.
Don Jio remains fearlessly true to himself. Ignoring musical trends, his music transcends boundaries and genres. An artist who brings to life songs entirely on his own, without external influence or conditioning. He writes the sheet music for all musical instruments and he sings all the vocal parts. He writes the lyrics exploring the depths of his own emotions and experiences, and produces the songs himself from the first note and sometimes to the final masters.
Don Jio also actively manages the visual elements associated with his work, photos, graphics and videos. Collaborating with talented artists he met along the way, he explores different visions and techniques, continually pushing the boundaries of his artistic expression.
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His passion for music has always been there. Already as a child he sang in the "Choir of the little Venetian singers”. The piano has been his closest companion since childhood. He began with classical piano studies, which later became a way to sing and play the songs of his favorite artists, straight from the page. Buying sheet music of his favourite singers was his greatest joy, Vasco Rossi, Madonna, Michael Jackson, and later The Cranberries, Linda Perry, Alicia Keys, Radiohead…
Coming out of magical but too small Venice, he studied in Bologna, immediately joining the university choir and then touring Europe to sing Mozart in Gothic churches accompanied by orchestras from other countries. Coming out of magical but too small Venice, he studied in Bologna, immediately joining the university choir and then touring Europe to sing Mozart in Gothic churches accompanied by orchestras from other countries. Drawing on his experience as a classical choral singer, he crafts songs rich in layered vocal harmonies, with strings intricately woven into the fabric of his music.
Don Jio then studied professionally at a Music Academy in Bologna, learning harmony and composition, being initiated into a taste for Blues and Jazz.
He is also fond of electronic and ambient music, which add a modern and atmospheric dimension to his style. Don Jio spent years collaborating with DJs, singing, and learning music production through hands-on experience.
His connection to club culture and the social atmosphere of parties fuels his electric energy. He learned a lot from the "world of the night," which entertains and excites him still today.
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In the early 2000s, under his first stage name Giio, the artist took his first steps in the dance scene, collaborating with several DJs and producers. In 2002, he wrote his first vocal part for a female voice with Follow Me, while in 2003 Physical Attraction was released, the first single performed by him as Giio. In 2006, he released Something to Complain, one of the first songs sung by him to achieve relative success. In 2009, Zigano was released, a track that reached a good position in the UK charts.
At the same time, the artist co-founded the Lunatiq Phase project together with his colleague Dariush, a duo devoted to sophisticated, free and refined electronic pop. After years of experimentation in the studio, only in 2015 did the duo manage to release Different Perceptions with a record label, an album that collects much of the music produced during the previous years and bears witness to their more dance-oriented phase. The project reached full artistic maturity, however, in 2018 with LP, an album that represents their most accomplished work and clearly defines the duo’s characteristic sound.
During this partnership, Giio mastered the main digital music production software, such as Cubase and Logic, evolving his writing from an acoustic dimension to a complete and autonomous instrumental construction. With the natural conclusion of the project due to artistic differences, the artist developed a completely independent language.
In 2010, he moved to Berlin, a city that became a strong source of inspiration. Driven by the need for a more intimate form of expression, the artist decided to undertake a solo career, returning to the simplicity of songs born at the piano and supported by acoustic arrangements, strings and cinematic atmospheres. This radical change of genre marked the birth of his new stage name: Don Jio.
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During the Covid emergency, the artist dedicated himself to selecting and perfecting the songs he cared about the most, written independently during the previous years in Berlin, with the aim of presenting his solo project to the world. At the same time, he developed a strong passion for videography and editing, teaching himself to use video-editing programs in order to personally create the video clips for each single, considering them an integral part of his visual identity.
The production culminated in the autumn and winter of 2025. In October, the single All I Wanna Do was released, anticipating the release of the album Way Out in December 2025. This work represents an achievement of complete production independence, entirely overseen by the artist from composition to visual editing. The central themes of his poetics embrace feelings, love stories, freedom, rebirth and the appreciation of imperfection and diversity.
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The most recent turning point coincides with the transition to his native language. After a production entirely in English, Don Jio felt the need to reconnect with his roots through singing in Italian and in the Spanish language, giving life to the Bacio Rubato project, available for streaming from June 26, 2026, together with the Spanish version Beso Robado.
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Many video clips of his songs are on the YouTube channel @DonJioMusic.
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