The Niro

Born on October 6, 1978, in Rome, Italian singer-songwriter Davide "The Niro" Combusti grew up as the son of a drummer and began on that instrument before also taking up guitar and bass. Early appearances in Rome's underground circuit came while he was still playing drums, but in 2002 he launched his own project, the Niro, serving as its singer and songwriter. When the band disbanded in 2004, he kept the name and shifted to a solo path. In the years that followed he opened Italian shows for Sondre Lerche, Lou Barlow, Isobel Campbell, Badly Drawn Boy, Deep Purple, and Amy Winehouse, while also performing in France, Austria, and the United States.

An invitation in 2006 took the Niro to Boston for an international Elliott Smith tribute, where he delivered the song "Everything Reminds Me of Her." Radiohead manager Chris Hufford's interest then placed him on Anti Atlas' album Between Two/Between Voices, and in 2007 he played a five-date run of New York clubs. An opening slot for Carmen Consoli in London led to a Universal deal; the resulting debut album The Niro appeared in April 2008, after the prior EP An Ordinary Man. Both releases revealed a striking artistic identity whose vocal character most closely recalls Jeff Buckley, expressed through deeply felt ballads carried by memorable melodies and inventive electro-acoustic textures.