Born in Glasgow and raised in Livorno, Italy, the son of an Italian father and a Scottish mother, Niki La Rosa picked up a guitar at the age of 10 and was soon writing his own music. Thanks to his uncle, renowned Scottish musician Ian Campbell (“Gerry Rafferty and many others”), and the rest of his musical family, Niki developed a taste for blues, country, and folk music which was then reflected in his own unique style.
His first album “Highways and Skies”, produced by Campbell, was recorded in London in 2006. Campbell and a group of highly talented British musicians participated in the making of the album.
In 2010, he recorded his second album “Intrio” with Italian musicians Roberto Luti (“Playing for Change”) on slide guitar, and Massimo Gemini on saxophone. The album contained songs in both English and Italian. Since then, Roberto and Massimo have become Niki’s permanent musical partners. The three of them have spent time performing at numerous venues, and on the streets of London, Rome, Lucca and Livorno.
In 2012, renowned Italian actor and film director Francesco Nuti asked Niki to present his new song “Olga Tu Mi Fai Morir”, from the soundtrack of his film “Olga e i fratellastri Billi”, at the Sanremo Music Festival. A music video was produced for this occasion which later won an award at PIVI, the Italian Independent Video Music Awards.
In that same period, Niki produced a second music video, called “Father”.
In 2013, he started recording his third album “London Journey”, which was produced by Marco Baracchino, and released in 2015.
In August 2014, Niki took part in the “Playing For Change” project, contributing vocals to the song “Lean on me”. The video, commissioned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for their "The Art of Saving a Life" campaign, involved musicians worldwide in an effort to improve children’s health across the globe.
In the same year, talented Italian film director Valerio Groppa selected one of Niki’s songs “When You Look Into My Eyes” for his film “Gran Finale”.
In 2015, Niki recorded the soundtrack for the film “The Colour of Grass” by Juliane Blasi-Hendel. The film was featured in several international film festivals, and was shown in cinemas across Italy and on the Swiss national television channel.
In 2016, Niki performed in Greece, Hungary, and Belarus, and debuted at The Lucca Summer Festival.
At present, Niki is based in Livorno. His new album “Us” will be released in January 2017.