Alessandro Mahmoud (born 12 September 1992 in Milan), known by the stage name Mahmood, is an Italian singer-songwriter. His mother is Italian while his father is Egyptian. He won the 2019 Sanremo Music Festival on 9 February 2019 with the song "Soldi". He had earned a spot at the Sanremo Music Festival by winning the second night of the standalone Sanremo Giovani 2018 competition on 21 December 2018 with the song "Gioventù bruciata". He previously competed on the sixth series of the Italian reality television singing competition X Factor. As a result of winning Sanremo, Mahmood was offered the chance to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, which he accepted. As a member of the Big Five Italy and Mahmood automatically qualified for the grand final, where he placed second in a field of 26. Achieving Italy´s best result since their return to the contest in 2011.