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He was born in Athens and started his career in 1990 singing "rebetika" and "laika". 
His first personal album “Athoos Enochos”  (Innocent Guilty) was released in 1996 with music by Panayiotis Kalantzopoulos and Evanthia Reboutsika and Aris Davarakis’ lyrics.
This first CD was followed by “Mono ena fili” (Just a kiss)  in 1997 (music: Evanthia Reboutsika, lyrics: Eleni Zioga), “Filakas Aggelos”  (Guadrian Angel) in 1999 (music: Antonis Mitzelos, lyrics: Eleni Zioga), “Eine diki mas i zoi mas" (Our life is ours) in 2000 (music: Evanthia Reboutsika, lyrics: Aris Davarakis), the single “Efapaks” (In one go)  in 2001 (music: Lavrentis Macheritsas, lyrics: Isaac Sousis), the double album “Yiannis Kotsiras LIVE” in 2002, which within a few months sold 120.000 copies, in 2003 his sixth personal album was released with the title “Ksilino alogaki” (Wooden horse) with music by Lavrentis Macheritsas and lyrics by Isaac Sousis and the DVD “Ti tragoudi na sou po” ( What song can I sing you) , “Trianta kai kati” (30something) in  2004 with music and lyrics by  Manolis Famellos  and  Kostas Leivadas. In one of the new songs lyrics are written by Haris Alexiou while is included also a song that music and lyrics are written – for the first time – by Yiannis Kotsiras.
He participated in recordings with Nikos Portokaloglou, Nikos Antypas, Dimitris Papadimitriou and Haris Alexiou, besides taking part in the albums dedicated to Dionysis Savvopoulos to Yiannis Markopoulos and to Mikis Theodorakis.
He performed  live with Haris Alexiou, Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Eleni Tsaligopoulou, Dimitris Basis, Kostas Makedonas. He has gone on several summer tours. The 2003 personal tour in particular was most impressive since it included 50 stops in Greece and Cyprus.
In 1998/99 he took part in Yiannis Markopoulos’ concerts in the Athens Concert Hall (a.k.a. Megaron), in the Peace and Friendship Stadium and in Patras.
In May 2001 he interpreted as a solist Angelos Sikelianos’ “Pnevmatiko emvatirio” (Spiritual march) and Odysseas Elytis’ “Aksion Esti”, two compositions of Mikis Theodorakis, first in the Odeon of Herodes Atticus (a.k.a. Herodion) and then, in September, in Thessaloniki and in the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus.
He is the fifth –and youngest– performer of “Aksion Esti”. The Herodion concert was released on a double CD in December 2001. In April 2002, along with Tania Tsanaklidou, he performed Mikis Theodorakis’ “Epitafios” (Epitaph) and “Romiosini” in Cyprus with the Presidential Symphony Orchestra of Russia.  This concert was repeated in June in Moscow, Athens and Salonica. In July 2002 he performed Mikis Theodorakis’ “O Ilios kai o xronos” (The sun and the time) and “Arcadia VIII (Milo - Charis)” (I talk – Charis)  at the Herodion.
In November 2002 he performed Mimis Plessas’ and Lefteris Papadopoulos’ “Dromos” (Street) at the Megaron. The concert was released on CD in March 2006.
In October 2003 he was honoured with the “Best Selling Greek Artist” award within the framework of the World Music Awards held every year in Monaco, a prize covering two years of top sales (2002 and 2003).
In March 2004, just a few days after the Flame-Lighting Ceremony in Ancient Olympia, his CD single “Pass the flame”, containing the song of the Athens 2004 Torch Relay, was released globaly. The CD single contained three versions of the song (English lyrics, Greek lyrics, and instrumental). Yiannis Kotsiras performed the song in both languages.
“Pass the flame” was written by Trevor Horn, a composer who has connected his name with great artists internationally (Paul Mc Cartney, Bryan Ferry, Pet Shop Boys, Art of Noise etc), in collaboration with Lol Creme. The Greek lyrics were written by Lina Nikolakopoulou. The CD was recorded in Sarmwest Studios, the studios Trevor Horn uses in London. The vocals are supported by famous singers from all over the world reflecting the global spirit of the torch relay.
In March 2005 he participated in the new version of the h