Consider this; there hasn't been a truly talented, writes her own stuff, plays her own guitar, rock and roll front woman that has broken the surface since the late 90's. Many have tried, but few have made an impact. Niki Barr is a name you can count on hearing with regularity now and in the future. With her magnetic stage presence, strong, memorable lyrics, and the superior musicianship of her band, Niki has quickly become a hot topic in the music industry.
Niki and her band play rock n roll, pure and simple. She is not part of any late developing trend and is certainly not the type to hop on any bandwagon. The only concern she has is writing good songs and knocking out audiences with stellar live performances.
Niki has been on stage in one way or another since a very young age. "I danced when I was three and did that for about 11 years, then I did theater for a while, so I've always liked being on stage, in front of a live audience," says Niki. From theater, she moved on to music and got her first guitar when she was thirteen. "I started playing all of these open mics and people liked it," explains Niki. "This one place, the guy said I could only play if I had my own music. So I went home and wrote a song so I could play there." One of her performances caught the attention of Mike Marucci of Marucci Artist Management Inc. and a short time later, the 15 year-old singer had a manager.
By age 16, Niki had already begun recording with producer/mixer/engineer Jim Ebert (Butch Walker, Meredith Brooks) on several demos that would become her first fully-produced EP, The Other Side of Me.
She's now 22 and for such a young woman, Niki has accomplished more than many artists twice her age. She is as an Electro-Voice endorsee, that places her in the company of POD, STATIC X , NEW FOUND GLORY and, SYSTEM OF A DOWN also Niki is as an Elixir Strings endorsee.
Some of the biggest names in the recording industry have worked with Niki including songwriters/producers The Matrix, Wizards of Oz, Mathew Gerrard and, Stephen Lironi.
This past year, Niki co-wrote songs for her new album “Lush" with such accomplished songwriters as Butch Walker, Bruce Brody, and Ed Tuton. The album is Niki's first full-length record, produced once again by Jim Ebert. In addition, she filmed her first music video for the first track on the new record called "Wasted Time", directed by Andrew Paul Bowser. The music video was featured on Club.com, YAHOO! Music and FUSE.
It's also worth noting that this recording artist is no stranger to rigorous touring; she has already embarked on four tours sponsored by the AFE. Her tours have taken her to Japan, Alaska, Singapore and Diego Garcia. Not long ago she embarked on a 43-day European tour that took her to Germany, Great Britain, and the Balkans.
In December of 2005 the Armed Forces Entertainment Network invited Niki to spend her holidays with our armed forces. She gladly accepted and on December the 16th she departed Dulles International Airport in route for Central Asia, where she spent 26 days entertaining men and women from around the world. The "Armed Forces Entertainment Tour 2005" DVD would be Niki's first tour documentary. The DVD features photos taken by the troops throughout her journey, and new music from Niki.
Not long after her return, Roger Christian & Company of San Antonio Texas and publicist for the Armed Forces Entertainment Network, included Niki in a feature story in Billboard Magazine focusing on the Armed Forces Entertainment.
Following her highly publicized tour of Central Asia, Niki released her latest LP “GO”. After five weeks, “GO” sits atop the active rock chart of Pulse Rated, the web-based and satellite radio program located in the United Kingdom. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.