Nikos Mathesis was born in Salamina in 1907. He was a child of Giorgos Mathesis (or Dritsa) and Giannoulas Aftra (or Dounta). He had four brothers. His father’s family was large and had lived in the Salamina area since the war of 1821. Around 1916-1917 they moved to Piraeus. His father was one of the biggest fish tradesmen in the Market of Piraeus. In 1922, at the age of 15 years he worked in the fish market. In 1930 he began to write songs for records and in particular his first song which he wrote with Giorgos Papasideris, called “Mes’ stou Nikita tou teke”.
He collaborated with the most famous music composers of the period. In 1934-35 he met and was married to his wife. Athina Mathesis (1915-1974) of the Markohioti (or Hioti) family was then 19-20 years old. They had two children, Giorgos (1936) and Yannis (1939). Nikos died on 27 April 1975.
But Nikos Mathesis is much more important than that makes him sound, because he was the one who brought Markos Vamvakaris into the studio. He told his father, who was making recordings of Rebetiko songs with violin backing that the manges (plural of mangas) in the tekes used the baglama and bouzouki for these songs, and he thought recordings of those would sell better. Mathesis senior asked him if he knew anyone who played bouzouki. “Well”, said Nikos, “There’s this guy called Markos that works in the slaughter-house…”