Bebo Ferra was born in Cagliari, Sardinia, on April 29, 1962, and picked up the guitar at nine, largely self-taught. His professional career started in 1979 in "Il Quintetto," a band led by his older brother, guitarist Massimo Ferra, on the Sardinian scene. In 1991 he won the national Jazz Contest (sponsored by Corriere della Sera) fronting the Sardinia Quartet, and around the same period he moved to Milan, where his first real footholds were with accordionist Gianni Coscia and with the second edition of the fusion group Area, directed by drummer Giulio Capiozzo.

His earliest Discogs-documented recording is a real curiosity: Once Upon a Time... (1993, DDD/BMG Ariola), a duo cassette billed to "Bebo Ferra Featuring Franco D'Andrea," pairing the young guitarist with one of Italian jazz piano's defining figures on his own recorded debut.

The relationship that shaped Ferra's career more than any other, though, began in the 1990s with trumpeter Paolo Fresu, first through the group Internòs. Ferra became a core member of Fresu's Devil Quartet, alongside bassist Paolino Dalla Porta and drummer Stefano Bagnoli, a working band documented on Stanley Music! (2007, Blue Note), Desertico (2013, Tǔk Music), Carpe Diem (2018, Tǔk Music) and My Funny Valentine (2020, Tǔk Music) — all four Discogs-verified with Ferra on guitar. Fresu and Ferra also tour as a duo, a format built around what critics have described as a close musical dialogue between trumpet/flugelhorn and guitar; Ferra has called the Fresu relationship his "principal showcase" as a player.

Alongside Fresu, Ferra built a long-running duo with double bassist Paolino Dalla Porta, dating to 1997 and documented on Bagatelle (2001, Splasc(H) Records) and Aria (2006). He has also recorded duo and small-group records with reedman Paul McCandless (Isole = Islands, 2002, EGEA, with Dalla Porta), American guitarist John Stowell (Elle, 2000, Jardis), bandoneon/accordion player Javier Girotto (Kaleidoscopic Arabesque, 2010), vibraphonist Andrea Dulbecco (Simul, 2019, Barnum For Art), and, in 2026 alone, two new duo albums: Evanscape with pianist Enrico Pieranunzi (Bonsaï Music) and Heritage with bassist Salvatore Maiore (Sardmusic). His own trio, the Bebo Ferra Trio, has recorded Sundance (1998) and Voltage (2016, Abeat Records, with Gianluca Di Ienno on piano/Hammond organ and Nicola Angelucci on drums); the same trio, expanded with Di Ienno and Angelucci, made his most recent leader album, Lights (2023, Flying Spark/ADA Warner Music Italy).

Ferra also spent 2007-2010 as the guitarist in bassist Giovanni Tommaso's band Apogeo, alongside pianist Claudio Filippini, saxophonist Daniele Scannapieco and drummer Anthony Pinciotti, documented on Jazzitaliano Live 2007 (Casa Del Jazz) and the group's 2010 studio debut, Apogeo - Codice 5 (Saint Louis Jazz Collection). Discogs also documents guest and sideman credits with pianist Paolo Damiani (Ladybird, 2004; Al Tempo Che Farà, 2007), trumpeter Fabrizio Bosso (You've Changed, 2007), singer Sergio Cammariere (two 2006 albums), and the Riccardo Fioravanti Trio (2005 and 2012), among others; pianist Rita Marcotulli guested in return on two of Ferra's own leader dates, Luar (2009, EGEA) and #JAZZvsCORONA Vol. 1 (2020, Barnum For Art).

Beyond performing, Ferra has scored films, winning Best Film Score at the Sulmonafilm Festival in 2011 for Tutto Bene and at the Busto Arsizio Film Festival in 2012 for Il Mio Domani; he also scored 2024's L'Amore e la Gloria: La Giovane Deledda. InSound magazine named him Best Acoustic Guitarist in 2011, and he was nominated for an Italian Jazz Award in 2009. He currently teaches jazz guitar and advanced harmony at CPM Milan and gives regular masterclasses at the Civica Musicale Monteverdi in Cremona, alongside earlier teaching ties to the Como Conservatory, Nuoro Jazz's summer seminars, and a visiting professorship at Rome's Saint Louis College of Music.

Ferra's own reference points, per press interviews, run through Bill Evans, Jim Hall, and Bill Frisell — a lineage audible in a guitar style critics describe as combining "measure, refinement, skill, competence and elegance" (Off Topic Magazine) rather than pure virtuosity. His catalog splits cleanly into two registers: the intimate, largely acoustic chamber-jazz world of his duo and trio work with Paolo Fresu, Paolino Dalla Porta, and Andrea Dulbecco, and a more electric, groove-driven post-bop and organ-trio sound on his own leader dates with Gianluca Di Ienno and Nicola Angelucci (Voltage, Lights), which lean into blues, rock, and soul-jazz textures without leaving the jazz vocabulary.