Marios Valinakis was born in 1977 in the island of Kos. In 1995 he settled in Athens, where he attended private saxophone lessons with Thanasis Zervas and Costas Karagiannis. In 1998 he was admitted to the Rotterdam's Conservatory Jazz School, where he studied for two years. At the same time, he participated in the masterclasses of Clare Fisher, Don Braden, Peter King, Philip Catherine, while he was also a member of the Rotterdam Conservatory Big Band and other musical groups.

From 2000 to 2004 he was active in Athens participating in musical ensembles, including the Big Band and the saxophone quartets of the Municipality of Athens, the saxophone quartets of the Municipality of Athens and "Synodi" etc. In 2004 he was accepted to the Amsterdam Conservatory Jazz School, where he studied for one year. There, he had the opportunity to work with musicians with various influences, such as Andreas Pichler, Gustavo Nadayapa, Gerri Jagger, Mikael Lindqvist and others.

Since 2006 he has been living in Athens where he participates in numerous groups. He is a founding member of Project3 +, Boogie Base and ‘SFUMATO’, participates in Penny And The Swingin Cats, The Heavy Metal Ban by David Lynch and Thedoris Rellos, Quasamodo Orchestra, while collaborating with Les nojazz and other bands of the Athenian scene. He has appeared in various theatrical performances and music festivals.