June 05, 2007

By By Taylor Grimes, N.Y.

YouTube star Esmee Denters has become the first artist signed to Tennman Records, the label launched by Justin Timberlake in a joint venture with Interscope. The deal places Denters as the opening act for a handful of Timberlake's upcoming European shows and positions her for an album release
later this year.

Denters rapidly gained a following through a series of low-tech YouTube videos that showed the artist covering songs from Beyonce, Natalie Imbruglia and others. In the past nine months, her videos have received 21 million views.

"Esmee is a remarkable talent with a story that anyone with a dream can relate to -- it is no wonder she has such an enthusiastic following already," Tenman president Ken Komisar says.

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