Zee Avi

Zee Avi (born Izyan Alirahman, also known as KokoKaina), PBK is a Malaysian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and ukulele player. She is originally from Miri, located in Sarawak, Malaysia on the island of Borneo. She moved to Kuala Lumpur at the age of 12 and taught herself to play the guitar at 17. Avi played rhythm guitar in a couple of bands while in Kuala Lumpur before moving to London to study fashion design at the American InterContinental University. After returning from London, she started writing songs. In September 2007, Avi posted a video of her first song, "Poppy" 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. Several months later, on the eve of her 22nd birthday, Avi posted what was supposed to be her final video "No Christmas For Me". The next day, YouTube put the spotlight on her video and Avi's mailbox was bombarded with more than 3,000 e-mails and a slew of offers from record labels.