Zee Avi (born Izyan Alirahman, also known as KokoKaina b. 1986) is a Malaysian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and ukulele player. She was born in Miri, Sarawak, on the island of Borneo. She moved to Kuala Lumpur when she was 12. She studied fashion design at American InterContinental University in London.
Zee originally posted a video of her first song on YouTube because one of her friends had missed her first performance in Kuala Lumpur, so she created a video on YouTube for him to watch. He convinced Zee to leave the video up, and soon she received positive feedback, which inspired her to put more videos on YouTube. After she was featured on YouTube, she was discovered by Patrick Keeler of The Raconteurs, who passed the link to Ian Montone, manager of the White Stripes, Shins, Raconteurs and more. He passed her music on to Emmett Malloy and she was signed by Brushfire Records, 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. On the day of her album's release, YouTube featured her on the front page in Spotlight: Music Tuesday. She is currently (June - August 2009) touring 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.
