Mahmoud Ahmed (born May 8, 1941) is an Ethiopian singer of Gurage ancestry. He gained great popularity in Ethiopia in the 1970s and among the Ethiopian diaspora in the 1980s before rising to international fame with African music fans in Europe and the Americas.

Mahmoud remains one of the most well-known Ethiopian music artists in the world.[Born in Addis Ababa's Mercato district, Ahmed was enthralled with the music he heard on Ethiopian radio from in early age. Having done poorly at school, he shined shoes before becoming a handyman at the Arizona Club, which was the after hours hangout of Emperor Haile Sellassie's Imperial Body Guard Band. One night in 1962 when the band's singer didn't show up, Ahmed asked to sing a few songs. He soon became part of the band's regular lineup, where he remained until 1974.

After cutting his first single with Venus Band "Nafqot New Yegodagn"/"Yasdestal" in 1971, Ahmed continued to record with several bands for the Amha and Kaifa record labels throughout the 1970s. The overthrow of Emperor Sellassie and the suspension of musical nightlife under the military government created shifts in the Ethiopian music industry—the Imperial Body Guard Band were no more, and Ahmed continued to make hit records and cassettes with many musicians who remained in the country, including the Dahlack Band, the Ibex Band and the Idan Raichel Project. He also began to release solo cassettes, accompanying himself on the krar, guitar or mandolin.

By 1978, censorship laws prevented Ahmed from releasing his music on vinyl and so he switched to releasing cassettes .In the 1980s Ahmed operated his own music store in Addis Ababa's Piazza district while continuing his singing career. With many Ethiopian refugees living abroad, Ahmed became one of the first modern Ethiopian music makers to perform in the United States on a 1980-81 tour with the WalliasBand, Gétatchew Kassa, and Webeshed Fisseha. Ahmed soon began releasing records with the Roha Band and became popular in diaspora communities.

In 1986, Ahmed's music reached a larger western audience when the Belgian label Crammed Discs released the collection Ere Mela Mela drawn from two Kaifa LPs Ahmed had recorded in Addis with the Ibex Band a decade earlier. Ethiopia was making headlines in the west because of political repression and famine, and the contrasting tone of Ahmed's first international release received much acclaim in the burgeoning world music community. Ahmed gained even greater international popularity in the late 1990s after Buda Musique launched the Ethiopiques series on compact disc. This led to new recordings and tours in Europe and the United States with Boston's Either/Orchestra and Badume's Band.

In 2007, Ahmed won a BBC World Music Award.