By Quinn Brown, CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/02/zee.avi/
How about a Malaysian Internet sensation with a debut album that was released one day earlier?
Such is the buzz around Zee Avi, a 21st-century chanteuse in the most literal sense. Her spot-on Billie Holiday phrasing and honey-sweet voice would have had her entertaining in a café in the 1930s. In this era, she was discovered on YouTube by an indie rocker -- Patrick Keeler of the Raconteurs -- and is on Jack Johnson's record label, Brushfire, which has partnered with Monotone Records to produce her.
Avi's set of engaging acoustic offerings included an enthralling cover of Interpol's "Slow Hands," and was delivered with self-assurance and poise. In an interview two days earlier, she credited her parents and grandfather for inspiring her love of music -- sometimes through karaoke. "Got to love that," she says.
Avi, 23, also acknowledges the influence of her native Malaysia, which kept her open to new ways of thinking.
