Copyright Southam Publications Inc. Jun 15, 2008

The setting is the interior of a vehicle in a nondescript parking lot off the Main. A group of four is gathered. No, this ain't some police operation or drug deal. The fellow in the front seat just received a rough studio cut of a coming CD. He wants feedback.

Soon almost other-worldly strains come wafting out of the sound system and spill into the streets. It's magical. It's Billie Holiday breaking hearts all over again. She's belting her signature tune God Bless the Child.

Close. It ain't Billie Holiday. It's the gum-chewing kid in the front seat, who is sidetracked texting a friend on her cell. Then, seemingly oblivious to the others, she starts singing along. It is almost eerie. Her dad always said the kid was possessed. How else to explain her channeling Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Judy Garland, Holiday? The kid is, of course, Montrealer Nikki Yanofsky. She's just come back from a session with local jazz luminary Vic Vogel and his ensemble in the Plateau. Along for the drive are her parents Elyssa and Richard, an accomplished pianist in his own right. Two years ago, when she was all of 12, people didn't know what to make of her pitch-perfect renderings of scat jazz classics. She was a curio. But since she was a toddler, Nikki had been blowing away her father and his musician buddies. Gradually, she started singing at fundraising functions in town.

Then impresario Rubin Fogel and jazz fest co-founder Andre Menard took heed. Nikki was booked to do two outdoor shows at the jazz-fest two years ago. Had there been a roof over the venue, she would have knocked it off. This time, more than 120,000 concert-goers took heed.

And that was only the beginning. To say this kid's career has skyrocketed is an understatement. To those in the know, she will soon be the biggest musical export from these parts since Celine - and some figure she may even surpass her. Among those in the know, incidentally, are Herbie Hancock, Wyclef Jean, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am and legendary producer Phil Ramone.

Nikki's version of God Bless the Child will be featured on Nikki's second disc, which is being produced by Ramone and is set for release in the fall. She has also recorded jazz standards with Hancock and funky hip-hop solos and duets with Jean.

She is particularly pumped about her association with Jean and pops some rough studio cuts of two numbers she recorded with him into the car sound system. This is a different sounding Nikki. The voice is more mature. The octave range is close to four. Again, it's awfully hard to fathom how these sounds come from a now 14-year-old, still under 5-feet tall and less than 90 pounds.

Nikki's first album, Ella ... of Thee I Swing, was released here last week and will soon land in the U.S. It is a live recording of her sold-out concert last October at Place des Arts, presented by the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and, as the title suggests, is a heartfelt tribute to Ella, among other jazz giants.

Nikki returns to the jazz fest for the third time, with shows June 25 and 26 at Theatre du Nouveau Monde. She will also be performing in the Gainey Foundation fundraiser with Sam Roberts and Great Big Sea, June 24 at Metropolis. Then it's off on a U.S. tour with her newest champion, the award-winning Marvin Hamlisch, and his New York Pops Orchestra - the same team with whom Nikki celebrated her 14th birthday in February at Carnegie Hall and, later, at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. for three nights.

Oh, and don't forget Nikki on the same bill as Diana Ross at the Jamaica Jazz Festival last January. Or a half-dozen sold-out shows in Toronto, including a few with the latest Count Basie band. Or her one-hour CBC concert, to be broadcast tomorrow evening at 8 p.m. on 93.5 FM. And a TV special on PBS. Or talk of her doing a show with Stevie Wonder. And there's more - like being named the ambassador for Montreal Children's Hospital charities - but due to space constraints, we'll put a lid on it.

And, all the while, she's still more obsessed about a math exam last week. She is about to finish Grade 8 at St. George's School. "It's funny," Nikki says. "I never get stressed singing with big stars or in front of huge audiences, like at the Bell Centre (where she has performed the Canadian and U.S. national anthems on numerous occasions), but I think I messed up this math test by reading one question wrong. I started to cry." There are, likely, those who would love to hear that success has changed Nikki, that she's become some prima donna brat. That doesn't appear to be the case. She seems pretty much the same kid, still more consumed about school and her friends than about fame and fortune.

"I love to sing and I will always sing, but it's to please myself. I sing from the moment I get up in the morning until I go to bed. It's in my bones. I can't explain it. I want to be treated like any singer, not a kid star. I can't stand being patronized," she says.

"I'd by lying if I said everything was perfect with kids at school. Even though I never talk about my music there, I feel some kids are resentful. But my best friends treat me the same. And my parents keep me grounded. People are people, whether they're famous or not. If you're secure with yourself, nobody will intimidate you. My dad always says we all put on our pants or skirts one leg at a time and we all wipe ... you know." "Besides, if her head ever gets too big, we'll just squish it back to where it was," mother Elyssa cracks. "She knows that." "She also understands that she is a singer first, not some novelty kid act," adds father Richard. "She gets up on stage and sings. She doesn't, and will never do, some dog-and-pony show." "My dad told me I'd better get a good education above anything else, because I might not become a singer when I am older," Nikki says. "That was like a slap in the face for me, but he's right. You can never learn too much." Also keeping her grounded are two older brothers, "one who can sing and one who can't sing to save his life but is so hilarious." Her musical tastes are all over the map, but there are genres she can't deal with. "I can't stand disco, techno, screamo or goth," she says. "It cracks me up listening to kids at school into hardcore goth. Like it's been so tough for them growing up on the mean streets of Hampstead." Nikki reports there are no special guys in her life. "Really, what would I do with a boyfriend? The concept sounds better than the reality. It would be pretty ridiculous. I'm too young to be hanging out in bars with guys. Which reminds me of a story I heard. Guy walks into a bar, and you know what he says?" Pause. "Ouch!" So the kid's a comic, too. "Nah," Nikki shoots back. "I just like a good joke, but I think I'll concentrate on my singing." bbrownst@ thegazette.canwest.com

Credit: BILL BROWNSTEIN; The Gazette