Malaysian singer-songwriter, guitarist and ukulele player Zee Avi will perform live.

    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. Several months later, Avi posted her video “No Christmas for Me” and the next day, YouTube put the spotlight on her video and Avi’s mailbox was bombarded with more than 3,000 emails.

    Patrick Keeler of The Raconteurs passed the link to Ian Montone, the manager of The White Stripes, The Shins, The Raconteurs, M.I.A. and others. Montone then passed her music on to Emmett Malloy, who signed her to Brushfire Records, a record company that is partly owned by Jack Johnson. “No Christmas for Me” turned out to be her first official song with Brushfire Records. It was featured on Brushfire Records’s 2008 charity Christmas album “This Warm December: A Brushfire Holiday” (Vol. 1).

    Her second album “Ghostbird” was released in 2011. It topped the U.S. Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart and spawned hits like “Swell Window” and “Concrete Wall” after both songs were featured in Season 5 of the hit television series “Gossip Girl.” Avi has the distinction of being the first Malaysian singer to have albums on the U.S. Billboard Hot 200 Albums chart and top a Billboard chart (Heatseekers Album).

    She toured the United States with Pete Yorn in 2009, the final leg being at the Music Box, Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood, California in August 2009. She opened for the multi-talented Jack Johnson during his concert at the Greek Theater, UC Berkeley in 2010. She also opened for Grammy-winning singer/songwriter and feminist icon Ani DiFranco at the Chameleon Club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 2011.

    She cites swing bands, Gershwin and America jazz from the 20s as influences. She has been likened to Ella Fitzgerald many times and one writer called her “the next heiress in the bloodline of young women with supernaturally classic voices.”

    Time: 8 p.m., Dec. 11

    Tickets: 100-480 yuan

    Booking: 400-185-8666

    Venue: Nanshan Cultural and Sports Center, 2106 Nanshan Boulevard, Nanshan District (南山区南山大道2106号南山文体中心)

    Metro: Line 1, Taoyuan Station (桃园站), Exit B(SD News)