Nikko Smith was born on April 28, 1982 in San Diego, California. His father is Ozzie Smith, a Baseball Hall of Famer. He began singing when he was only seven years old, and his performances were limited to the youth choir of the First Baptist Church in Chesterfield, Missouri. When he was 13 years old, Nikko formed the music group Team 11, but it broke up eventually, leaving Nikko to continue developing his craft on his own. Before he joined season 4 of American Idol, Nikko did not have any formal training in music. Nikko is a fan of martial arts and of the music of Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Sam Cooke.

Nikko auditioned for season 4 of American Idol in St. Louis, Missouri. Although he was eliminated from the semifinals with Travis Tucker, the producers of the show asked Nikko to return to the show to replace Mario Vazquez, who departed from the show because of personal reasons. Nikko jumped at the chance and gave strong performances in the Finals, with songs like "I Want You Back," "Incomplete," and "Can We Talk." Nevertheless, his singing prowess did not impress the voters, as he was voted off after his rendition of "One Hand, One Heart" from the musical West Side Story. He was the the fourth finalist eliminated from the show.

Currently, Nikko is busy working on his debut album entitled The Revolution. In 2006, he was asked to sing the National Anthem before the start of Game 4 of the World Series. Game 4 was held at the home field of St. Louis Cardinals, the team that his father played for for 15 seasons.

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