sturgis nikides biography

Sturgis Nikides is a recording artist with a unique lyrical vision and a hybrid american blues/alt country/jam rock sound that shatters the genre barrier. No matter how it’s described, one thing everyone agrees on is he is New York City's "Best Kept Secret".
Sturgis has had an impressive career as a guitarist, as a singer/songwriter, and as an aspiring producer. He began playing the guitar in 1965, after seeing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. He made his first professional appearance in 1969 and by the mid 70's he was lauded as one of the best guitarists in NYC's burgeoning underground punk rock explosion; playing sold out shows at Max's Kansas City as lead guitarist in the legendary Neon Leon Band and with his own groups, The Sharp, Manray and Thieves. Sturgis also branched out as a “mercenary” guitar for hire and landed some plum gigs. For starters, he backed up German Chanteuse and former Velvet Underground vocalist Nico at the Squat Theater, with the Joe Bidewell Group, right down the street from the historic Chelsea Hotel. In 1979, thru the auspices of bandmate Bidewell, he aced an audition with John Cale, co-founder of the Velvet Underground and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Shortly afterward, he made his vinyl debut with Cale on the single Ready for War (Spy/IRS Records). He made his major label debut in 1980 with John Cale's Honi Soit LP on A&M records. Continuous recording and touring followed in the ensuing years. Sturgis has appeared onstage with Sterling Morrison (Velvet Underground), Kevin Ayers (Soft Machine), and Chris Spedding (Paul McCartney, Roxy Music), among many others.
Needing a change of scenery, he moved to Miami Beach in the mid 1980's. When his critically acclaimed band Voidville split in 1993 he decided to move in a new direction: producing, composing instrumental music for film and television, and for the first time ever, solo recording. Always a prolific songwriter, Sturgis had never actually sung any of his own songs, preferring to leave the vocal honors to various bandmates over the years. The result was his debut solo disc Man Of Steel, in 2004. The disc features Sturgis playing his unique style of bottleneck slide on a National Steel guitar on every track. Standouts include Comes Again (Memphis Train), Turn Into Stone, She's Got a Gun, and a completely original version of the Rolling Stones chestnut, Play With Fire. He has spent the last 4 years wood-shedding and concentrating on honing his live performance chops. His new band is appropriately called "STURGIS", and they are currently flooring audiences in the NYC area, and making plans to do the same on the national Jamband concert and festival circuit later this year. Don't miss an opportunity to see this exciting band when they play in your town.

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