Zee Avi (born Izyan Alirahman, also known as KokoKaina; b. 1985) is a Malaysian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and ukulele player. She was born in Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia. She moved to Kuala Lumpur when she was 12. She studied fashion design at American InterContinental University in London.
In September 2007 Avi posted a video of her first song on YouTube for one of her friends who had missed her first performance in Kuala Lumpur. The friend convinced Avi to leave the video online even after he had seen it, and soon she received positive feedback. This inspired her to put more videos on YouTube. After being featured on the main page of YouTube, she was discovered by Patrick Keeler of The Raconteurs, who passed the link to Ian Montone, the manager of The White Stripes, The Shins, The Raconteurs, and others. Montone passed her music on to Emmett Malloy, who signed her to Brushfire Records, a record company which is partly owned by Jack Johnson. Her song "No Christmas For Me" is featured on Brushfire Records's 2008 Christmas album This Warm December: A Brushfire Holiday. Her single "Bitter Heart" was first to become available on the US iTunes store, and her full self-titled debut album was released on May 19, 2009, co-produced by Brushfire Records and Ian Montone's Monotone Records. On the day of her album's release, YouTube featured her on the front page in Spotlight: Music Tuesday. From June–August 2009, she toured the United States with Pete Yorn. The final concert on her first U.S. tour was at the Music Box at the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood, California on August 27, 2009.
Avi's song "Monte" was featured in the second season finale of Private Practice.
Avi has recently released her debut EP, One More Time With Colors, on July 20. The four song EP includes the new never released before song “I Wish I Never” as well as three remixes of tracks from her debut album, Zee Avi. Discography Zee Avi (2009) Her debut album hit #130 US Billboard Hot 200 Chart and #2 US Billboard Top Heatseekers Chart, and sold 6,000 copies in the United States in its first 2 weeks of release(as of June 9, 2009) according to Nielsen SoundScan. To date, the album has sold over 300 000 units and has already reached Gold status in Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Her first single "Bitter Heart" spent 3 weeks on Japan's Top 100 Singles chart. It entered the chart at #82 and peaked at #63, where it stayed for 2 weeks. It was also featured on the second season of the 2010 NBC series Parenthood. Music videos "Bitter Heart" Director: Emmett Malloy | Producer: Mike Sarkissian | Director of Photography: Giles Dunning | Editor: Brenden Mendez "Slow Hands" (live, Interpol cover) Director: Tim Wheeler | Producer: Josh Nicotra | Editor: Brenden Mendez The song "Just You and Me" was featured in a short promotional film for Oliver Peoples' Spring 2010 campaign entitled "Les enfants s'ennuient le dimanche (The Children Are Bored on Sundays)." The film was directed by acclaimed photographer Autumn de Wilde, and starred actor Elijah Wood and singer Shirley Manson.
Source: http://www.facebook.com/pages/KokoKaina/106007326105038?sk=wiki
