Niko Marks is a unique singer, songwriter, electronic music producer and performance musician with a
freshness of spirit that transverses time and genre.
Hailing from Detroit, MI, Niko started honing in on his musical skills at the age of 7 - inspired by a family of talented vocalist and musicians including his mother, a pianist who played at the church they attended.
In early teenage years, Niko became inspired by artists such as Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Paul McCartney, Elton John, George Clinton, Herbie Hancock, Al Jarreau, Thomas Dolby, Kraftwerk, Miles Davis, Chaka Khan and many others.
Eventually, Niko would team up with Scott Weatherspoon, Raphael Merriweathers and Michael Banks of Submerge to form a production team called Members of the House. dropping hits such as, "Summer Nites" written byfeaturing Niko on lead vocals and piano, as well as “Share This House” and "Somethin' About You". Niko also collaborated with Michael Banks under the group names, Unit 2 and 365 Black. This mission stemmed forth the high-spirited grooves, "Sunshine", released on Happy Records and "Keep Your Head Up" written by Niko and Raphael Merriweathers - featuring Niko on lead vocals and keyboards and was released on 430 West Records.
Niko further developed his writing and production skills when he later began working as a producer, writer and engineer on projects with Michael J. Powell, of Vanguard Productions, who produced for artists such as Anita Baker, Rachelle Ferrell, Fred Hammond and Commissioned, R. Kelly, The Winans and Randy Crawford.
Taking a leap forward in time, Niko spearheaded an experiment aimed at tearing down the stronghold of
categorized music. The second component needed to complete this mission would be the skills of long time cohort, Eddie Fowlkes. The outcome: "Niko Marks and the City Boy Players” featuring Eddie Fowlkes, which was a collage of artistic expression that housed an array of Detroit vocalist. Their other collaborative works included: "The Detroit Soul Project", the "Pre-Amp Brothers” and “Angel In My Pocket" which was released with Roy Davis Jr. on his Therapy Music record label.
Niko has also been involved with releasing dance records in the UK and US which include “Sonny Daye” and “Ufo’s” with the group, Ujuzi on Pan Records, “Truly Something” and “Chune” on Planet E, “Major Artery” and “House People Know” on Subject Detroit, "Carnal", a 12-inch which contain, "Zombia" and the french-styled broken beat track "Moon Cycles” - released on U2XProductions and licensed to New Religion/EMI just to name a few.
As a self-sufficient artist, Niko continues to write, produce and release projects on U2XProductions to which he has several full album releases. When performing live, he is usually accompanied by a duo which consists of a bass player and drummer. Together they perform one of the most eclectic and diverse electronic music dance sets!