Coco Lee

Coco Lee (Chinese: 李玟; 17 January 1975 – 5 July 2023) was a Chinese-American singer, songwriter and actress. She is one of the best selling artists in Asia and widely regarded as a significant figure and a Diva. Her career marked the modernization of pop music in Asia and influenced many other artists. Her career began in 1993 in Hong Kong, and she gained early fame in Taiwan through a series of successful albums, establishing herself as an icon in Asia. During her life, she lived in Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United States and Mainland China. Her diverse cultural experiences shaped her background and laid the foundation for her success in the entertainment industry. She released 18 studio albums, two live albums, and five compilation albums.
Lee has been described as 'Asian Mariah Carey' and "enormously influential". She was also noted for her Americanized dance routines. She voiced the lead character Fa Mulan in the Mandarin version of the 1998 Disney Film Mulan, and sang its theme song "Reflection".
She was the first Asian singer to have music released globally, making her the first Chinese singer to break into the western market. Her album Just No Other Way, released in 1999, was the first ever English-language album recorded by an Asian singer. Her globally-released single "Do You Want My Love" received international success, appearing on the US Billboard Hot Dance Breakouts Chart at No. 4 and entered Top 50 of the US Billboard Dance Club Songs Chart while also peaking at No. 14 on the Official Australian Singles Chart and No. 20 on the Official Chart in New Zealand.
Lee's 2000 song "A Love Before Time" was nominated by the Academy Award for Best Original Song of the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, she also performed the song at the 73rd Academy Awards, becoming the first, and so far only, Chinese performer to perform at the Academy Awards. She was also the first Asian-American singer to sing the US National Anthem at an NBA game, the first Asian singer to hold a concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles California, the first non-mainland Chinese singer to win the Chinese singing reality show I Am A Singer, and the first Asian brand ambassador for Chanel.
She died in Hong Kong at the age of 48.
Ferren Lee was born on 17 January 1975 in Hong Kong or Wuhan. She was born after her father's death due to illness, making her a posthumous child. She also had physical defects in her left leg, which affected her throughout her life and contributed to her later challenges. After her father's death, Lee's mother moved the family to Hong Kong to seek support from relatives. They faced difficult times there before immigrating to the US when CoCo was 9 years old. She had two elder sisters, Carol and Nancy. Nancy would become Coco's manager early on in her career. She was raised in Hong Kong and had a lot of pleasant memories there. Lee and her family moved to San Francisco when she was around 10. She attended Redding Elementary School, Presidio Middle School and Raoul Wallenberg Traditional High School there. Lee won the title of Miss Teen Chinatown San Francisco in 1991 at age 16, marking a significant step toward her later success in the entertainment industry.
Lee won a local singing contest twice at 17. During the first time she won, she joined in to pay for the damage she did to her mom's car. The second time, she entered it again just because it was so enjoyable. After graduating from high school in 1993, she entered a TVB competition in Hong Kong and was offered a recording contract. Lee attempted to juggle her singing career in Hong Kong with her pre-medical studies at the University of California, Irvine but eventually left after her first year to concentrate on her pop career. During an interview in 1997, Lee said she never intended to become a star. Her goal in life was to become a surgeon because her mother was a successful doctor, although completing all of her medical training might take another decade.
In 1993, Lee returned to Hong Kong to see her sisters, who had participated in the Miss Hong Kong Pageant in 1992. While there, she took part in the 12th Annual New Talent Singing Awards (1993) and was the first runner-up, singing Whitney Houston's Run to You. The following day, Capital Artists offered her a recording contract.
Lee made her debut on compilation albums including Red Hot Hits '93 Autumn Edition (火熱動感93勁秋版). In 1994, she released her first solo albums in Mandarin in Taiwan, Love from Now On (愛就要趁現在) and Promise Me (答應我), with Fancy Pie Records. Her English language cover album, Brave Enough to Love (勇敢去愛), and her third Mandarin album, Woman in Love (被愛的女人), were released the following year.
In 1996, Lee signed with Sony Music Entertainment. Her next Mandarin album, CoCo Lee (往日情·愛我久一點), became the best-selling album of 1996 in Asia. Later that year she released an English cover album CoCo's Party (CoCo's Party). The following year, she released her Mandarin album Sincere (每一次想你) as well as a self-titled Cantonese album, COCO (COCO). That was her first and only solo Cantonese album. In 1998, the Mandarin album Di Da Di (Di Da Di·暗示) was released, selling 1 million copies in less than 3 months.
From her next album Sunny Day (Sunny Day·好心情), "Colors of the World" (颜色) was used for the opening of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and the song "The Answer" (答案) for the Chinese movie Bishonen. In 1998, she was hired by Walt Disney Pictures to sing the theme song "Reflection" (自己; translation: Myself) and voice Fa Mulan in the Mandarin version of Mulan (花木蘭). In the same year, she sang "Missing You in 365 Days" (想你的365天), one of the theme songs of the film Lotus Lantern, the first commercial animated feature film in Mainland China.
In August 1998, Coco performed in Taiwan to a concert audience of more than 50,000 fans, the second-largest concert audience in Taiwan, exceeded only by Michael Jackson. She also performed in Michael Jackson's "Michael Jackson and friends" charity concert. In 1999, Lee released the Mandarin album From Today Till Forever (今天到永遠). Later that year, under 550 Music, she made her debut Just No Other Way, which included the hit, "Do You Want My Love". The song reached No 4 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Breakouts chart in December 1999, marking her success as the first Chinese singer to break into the American market. Her love song "Before I Fall in Love" (originally performed by Canadian female singer Joanna Pennock in 1995 on her self named only album, Joanne) was included in the soundtrack of the movie Runaway Bride. She also recorded a duet called "Can't Get Over" with singer Kelly Price. Lee recorded the charity singles "We Meet the Future" and "Hand in Hand" for SARS with other artists including Wang Leehom, Stefanie Sun, Elva Hsiao, and Jolin Tsai. In Asia, she released a Mandarin album True Lover You & Me (真情人·You & Me). By 2000 she had released 20 albums in Asia and had sold 7.5 million copies of her albums on that continent.
In 2001, Lee sang the song "A Love Before Time" for the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which she performed at the Oscars. The song was introduced by the actress Julia Stiles as an "evocative love ballad" that combined "the flavor and texture of Eastern music with the orchestral color and sensitive lyrics of Western culture" in the ceremony. Her album Promise Coco (Promise) was released in October 2001. She recorded a Mandarin Chinese cover titled "Baby, I'm Sorry" (Baby 對不起) as the lead single of the album. Her version's lyrics were co-written by Lee along with Lou Nanwei while the music is still the same original composition by Alfanno. A music video was released on the same year by Sony Music Entertainment Her version placed at number 35 on the Taiwan Yearly Singles Top 100 chart in 2001. In 2002, Lee released her remix album D. Is Coco (Dance Is Coco). She sang an anti-tobacco song called "From the Beginning 'til the End" (煙絲萬縷) with singer Jacky Cheung. In the same year, at the NBA (National Basketball Association) debut of Yao Ming Lee performed the US national anthem and became the first Chinese-American singer to sing at an NBA game. She also sang the anti-racism song "A Dream of One" with Korean singer Jin Young Park. In 2003, she performed with Shaggy at the "MTV Asia Awards" in Singapore and also presented the show with him.
Lee co-starred in the Chinese comedy movie Master of Everything (自娱自乐) with John Lone, which won the Best Foreign Film award in the 2005 Beverly Hills Film Festival.
In 2005, Sony BMG released her second English album, Exposed. The album was banned in Mainland China for sexy lyrics in a few songs such as "Touch" and "So Good". Lee's next Mandarin album, Just Want You (要定你), was released on 22 September 2006. In 2008, Lee was chosen to sing one of the 2008 Summer Olympics' songs, "Forever Friends", opposite Sun Nan.
As the first Asian singer to perform at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Lee had a solo concert there in July 2009, singing some of Michael Jackson's songs in homage to her idol. On 14 August 2009, she released her new Mandarin album East to West (CoCo的東西) with Warner Music Group. It contains the songs "Party Time", "Turn" (流轉) which is on the soundtrack of the film The Legend of Silk Boy for the Shanghai World Expo 2010 and "BYOB" ("Bring Your Own Bag"), a song to encourage people to bring and recycle their own shopping bags to save the environment. She recorded the song "Smile Shanghai" (微笑上海) with other artists including JJ Lin, Andy Lau, Jam Hsiao, and Jane Zhang for Shanghai World Expo 2010. On 27 March 2010, Lee began her East2West World Tour Concert in Taipei at Taipei Arena. She performed at the Encore Theatre in Wynn Casino in Las Vegas on 3 and 4 July, then in Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore on 2 October, and in Nanning on 16 December. In March 2011, Lee was one of many artists who participated in the recording of the Artistes 311 Love Beyond Borders official theme song called "Succumb Not to Sorrow" (不要輸給心痛) for the Cantonese version. On 7 April 2011, her song "Dreams on Oriental Seas" (梦在东方的海上) featuring Sun Nan was broadcast. It was named as the theme for the 14th FINA World Championships, which took place in Shanghai on 16 July 2011.
On 8 June 2011, Lee announced that had she set up her own studio. On 25 June, her song "Four seas alliance" (四海盟約), the theme song for the 2011 China television drama All Men are Brothers, was broadcast. On 17 December 2011, she performed at "Booey Lehoo Concert" in Beijing with will.i.am and apl.de.ap from The Black Eyed Peas, John Legend, and Shunza. On 9 February 2012, she performed at the TRANS4M Boyle Heights benefit at Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles with will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo from The Black Eyed Peas.
Her album Illuminate (盛開) was released on 31 May 2013 with Universal Music. She was a judge on the 2015 version of Dancing with the Stars in China.
In 2016, she competed in the fourth season of the Chinese reality show I Am A Singer, although she admitted that losing her voice to bronchitis in 2014 had affected her singing ability. However, she recovered and participated, going on to win the competition, making her the first non-mainland Chinese singer to do so. Lee later returned as a guest singer for two more seasons (now rebranded with the new title Singer); on the fifth season during the biennial concert, and on the sixth season as with a guest performer for Jessie J, the eventual winner of that season. In 2020, Coco Lee announced that she was going to re-record the Mandarin end-credits version of the song Reflection for the live adaptation of Mulan, as she had already done in 1998.
In 2023 she was digitally animated using motion capture for the virtual reality interactive concert Millennium Realm (千禧之境) on the Pico VR video platform.
Lee married Hong Kong-based Canadian businessman Bruce Rockowitz on 27 October 2011 in Hong Kong in a Jewish ceremony. The wedding included performances by Bruno Mars, Alicia Keys, and Ne-Yo. For her wedding, she recorded the song "I Just Wanna Marry U" (Chinese and English version), which was released on 24 October 2011. In March 2018, she mentioned in a brand event that she was undergoing IVF in New York. She had no biological children but had two stepdaughters from her husband's previous marriage. Rockowitz is alleged to have cheated on Lee. There were reports saying they had separated before Lee died and were due to sign the divorce papers in July 2023.
Lee was born with an abnormality in her left leg. At the age of two, she underwent surgery which failed to correct the problem, causing her to rely more heavily on her right leg for most of her life.
Lee received a diagnosis of depression in 2019. Her sister said the condition deteriorated drastically the few months before her death although she had sought professional help.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022 and had a tumor removed. In December 2022, the singer reported her weight as 42 kg (92 lbs), sparking concerns for her health. On 8 March 2023, she disclosed on social media that she had surgery on her pelvis and thigh in Hong Kong the previous month, after triggering an old leg injury during a dance rehearsal in October 2022. She shared videos of herself learning to walk again with the aid of a walker as well as a nurse. Lee had to take muscle relaxant medication after the surgery, an insider said.
Lee attempted suicide on 29 June 2023. She spent one night in a private hospital, before moving to her sisters' house at the Peak. She attempted suicide again on 2 July and was taken to the hospital, where she died three days later, on 5 July, at the age of 48. The news of her death received much attention in China, getting almost 1.4 billion views on Weibo in one day.
The family asked Hong Kong authorities to investigate Lee's death, and an autopsy has been requested to determine the cause.
Lee's sister Nancy has urged the government of Hong Kong to officially recognize the late star's contributions. A vigil for Lee was held on 31 July at Hong Kong Funeral Home in North Point, with a public memorial service. There were eight pallbearers for the funeral, including her brother-in-law Billy Ho; singer Jenny Tseng; lyricist and music producer Chien Yao; Jonathan Serbin, the co-president of Asia at Warner Music; fan and television host Yang Yang; Grace Lee, Lee's high school classmate in San Francisco; Lily Pang and Colleen Yu Fung, Lee's good friends. The private funeral service was on 1 August.
Rockowitz's name was missing from multiple announcements made by Lee's sisters. It was reported that towards the end of the funeral service on 31 July, Nancy suddenly became emotional when hugging a friend and was heard shouting repeatedly in Cantonese: "He took my sister away!" Carol, the eldest sister, was also heard shouting: "She's saying he caused my sister to die!" Their cries did not name any person and lasted for some time before the audio was muted. On 1 August, when asked to say something to Coco outside the crematorium, Rockowitz, who was being mobbed by Lee's angry fans, said, "I love her. My whole life." He has come under criticism after Lee's death and has sought to dispel various allegations against him.
On 21 October 2023, Lee's ashes were buried at the Shimen Peak Memorial Park in Wuhan, China. According to her sister, it was their mother's wish that the ashes of Lee, who had never met her father when she was little, be laid to rest next to his.
She was remembered by the New York Times as "a Chinese American singer and songwriter best known for performing an Oscar-nominated song in the hit film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
On 17 August 2023, a nine-minute audio clip featuring Lee, a coach during the season 7 of the show Sing! China, came to light. In the recording, she commented on her humiliation at the hands of the production team during the show's final episode in October 2022. This humiliation followed her questioning of the competition format in September 2022.
Lee, who was about to undergo surgery on her left leg, alleged that she was subjected to a sudden placement change during a performance with Wang Zepeng, a contestant on her team. Wang, who was supposed to accompany Lee on stage to assist her due to her fragile condition, had his back turned to her, causing Lee to stand alone and fall during their duet. She described this experience as "humiliating", especially since her health issues had been largely concealed from the public.
Wang later supported Lee's claims by sharing screen captures of their private text messages, where Lee accused the director of intentionally undermining her. There was also a leaked video of a staff member on set attempting to remove Lee from the stage as she repeatedly said, "Don't touch me."
In the nine-minute audio clip, Lee stated that the production team threatened her, saying they would not give contestant Feige a chance to return to the stage unless she wrote a Weibo post. She complied to ensure Feige had an opportunity to showcase his talent.
'Jammy' Li Jiajie, one of the contestants in season 8 (2023) agreed with Lee after the clips' leakage. He said in his Weibo post that "the price of 500,000 yuan per seat, in his opinion, is certainly not a baseless rumor... the top ten places in the finals are all available for purchase." His posts were mysteriously removed, and Li later said that his allegations were made without basis. People were surprised by the posts' removal and his "apologies". They left comments asking him if he was threatened.
The controversy led to a significant debate among netizens, with calls to boycott the show's sponsors. By 25 August 2023, the stock price of Star China Media, the parent company of "Sing! China," plummeted by more than 50 percent, resulting in a loss of approximately $3 billion in value. On the same day (25 August), Zhejiang Satellite TV announced that the program had been frozen from broadcasting briefly pending an investigation over the alleged mistreatment of Lee and other issues raised by netizens and viewers.
In September, Sing! China's producer Can Xing Media (a subsidiary of Star China Media) filed a suit against the management company of Lee, Warner Music China (HK) Limited. The company was accused of being shameless by some netizens for filing the suit.
Lee is remembered by millennials who grew up during a time when Mandopop boomed and enjoyed listening to her songs in English and Mandarin. She is considered the 'Asian Mariah Carey' due to her impressive voice and dance. She was one of the first Asian singers to be widely recognized on both sides of the Pacific. Because of her multilingual and multicultural background, Lee has been compared to Ricky Martin. She has also been credited for breaking down international barriers and bridging the gap between East Asia and the West.
Lee was actively involved in the work of UNICEF as a youth ambassador, promoting children's right and their well-being. She supported the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants children with critical illness their wishes. She was also an ambassador for the Organisation for World Peace in China, Cancer Fund's Pink Ambassador at Hong Kong's first breast cancer survivors' fashion show in 2016 and Youth AIDS ambassador at a global AIDS conference in Bangkok, Thailand in 2004. As the Youth AIDS ambassador, she attended the conference as the representative of the Asian artists to meet various youth groups discussing what she could do to educate them about AIDS.
Lee was inspired by musicians such as Whitney Houston, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey. Because techniques employed by R&B singers in English would change the pitch and meaning of words in Cantonese, she taught herself Mandarin, which allows for more tonal flexibility.