Growing up in Athens Greece, Niko Lyras played guitar in local rock bands and signed his first record deal at 17. Convinced that music was his career, he moved to the US and settled in Memphis, Tennessee, home of the soulful music he loved. Through his college years he established himself in the local music community and worked his way through bachelor’s and master’s degrees, playing everything from straight ahead jazz to rock and R&B.

He and partner Ward Archer, Jr. opened Cotton Row Recording in 1980, steadily building a reputation as one of the city’s top studios for both emerging and established artists.

Over the years, Niko has engineered, produced, and played guitar on hundreds of projects at Cotton Row and other studios in the US, Canada and Europe. His track record of developing promising young artists was spotlighted by Wendy Moten’s top 5 hit “Come In Out Of The Rain”, which he co-wrote and produced.

The walls of his studio have been lined with albums representing virtually every musical genre: classical, jazz, blues men like B.B. King, Albert Collins and Luther Allison, rockers like Roxy Blue and Saliva, gospel greats like Edwin Hawkins and the Clark Sisters, rappers like Three Six Mafia and Lil Jon, and international artists like Jim Corcoran and Javier Vargas.

Niko’s musical and production talents have also been heard in major motion pictures and television shows, with music recorded both in his studio and live on location.

His work has been widely honored by his peers, including a BMI songwriting award, a Critics Choice award from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Canadian Juno and Felix awards, a Stellar award, three NARAS Premier Player honors, four Addy awards, and two Grammy nominations.

Today, Niko continues to produce, engineer, run three music publishing companies, and stay busy as a studio and live guitarist. He records and performs with the jazz/ funk instrumental group The Justus Brothers, and produced the group’s nationally charting debut album. Other efforts include two albums by his previous band Voodoo Village ( “Funk Soup” and “Sleight of Hand” on 40 West Records), and a solo album (“Chunk of Space Funk” on Icehouse Records, featuring guest performances by Victor Wooten, Futureman, JD Blair, Mononeon, Eric Gales, and Wendy Moten).