Mauro Refosco was born in Joacaba, SC Brazil, where at very early age he was intrigued by the sounds of drums played at the games of the local Football Team JEC. He moved to Sao Paulo to attend at UNESP, where he graduated in 1990. In 1992 Mauro came to NYC to pursue his Master Degree in Percussion at Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Christopher Lamb, the Principal Percussionist from NY Philharmonic. In 1994 Mauro joined David Byrnes band and has collaborated with the legendary talking head ever since.

In 1997 John Lurie invited him to join the world famous Punk Jazz band Lounge Lizards, playing concerts around the globe and recording soundtracks for many movies and TV shows.

He has played on numerous recordings by a variety of artists, including David Byrne, Bebel Gilberto, Vinicius Cantuaria, They Might be Giants, Lounge Lizards, Stewart Copeland and many others. Mauro enjoyed playing zabumba and singing Luiz Gonzaga songs on guitar. Sometime in 2002 he called some friends, among them Smokey Hormel and set a weekly night forro extravaganza at Nublu, this little joint of the East Village. After a few shows they had a following. That was the beginning of Forro In The Dark.