Coco Lee, a Hong Kong-born singer and songwriter, has died at age 48. She had a career of some 30 years, which included providing the voice of the heroine Mulan in the Mandarin-language version of Disney’s “Mulan.” The singer had tried to take her own life last Sunday and had been rushed to a nearby hospital, where she remained in a coma until her death.
Coco Lee’s sisters, Carol and Nancy Lee, said in a statement on Facebook and Instagram that Coco had attempted suicide at home on Sunday. She was in a coma since that point and died on Wednesday at Hong Kong’s Queen Mary Hospital.
“With great sadness, we are here [to] break the most devastating news: Coco had been suffering from depression for a few years, but her condition deteriorated drastically over the last few months,” the sisters said. “Although Coco sought professional help and did her best to fight depression, sadly that demon inside of her took the better of her.”
Coco Lee, who was educated in both Hong Kong and the U.S., enjoyed success in the 1990s in Hong Kong in the Mandopop (Mandarin-language pop) scene before expanding into Cantonese and English.“Coco is also known to have worked tirelessly to open up a new world for Chinese singers in the international music scene, and she went all out to shine for the Chinese,” the sisters said.
Coco Lee became the first American of Chinese origin to perform at the Oscars in 2001 thanks to the song nominated for best original song “ A Love Before Time ”, from the film “ Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ”. The Chinese version of the same song earned her the award for best original film song at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2001.
she was also the first Chanel brand ambassador of Chinese descent for the Asian region and became one of the top pop personalities in her native country.
She recorded 18 studio albums, two live albums and five compilation albums. She appeared in three films, “No Tobacco” by Stanley Kwan, Lee Xin’s “Master of Everything” and had a cameo in 2015 film “Forever Young.” She appeared more frequently on mainland Chinese TV, notably as a judge or advisor on talent shows including the 2013 version of “Chinese Idol” and the 2015 version of “Dancing with the Stars.” Coco Lee was a powerful live performer and was rarely far from the headlines. In 2011, she married Bruce Rockowitz, a wealthy Canadian businessman in a lavish wedding that was a highlight of the year. Rockowitz is the former CEO of Hong Kong supply chain company Li & Fung. “While she had two stepdaughters from her marriage with Rockowitz, Lee didn’t have children of her own,” Radio Television Hong Kong explained.
Despite her Hong Kong origin, Lee moved to the United States at the age of 9 to study primary, secondary and high school, before beginning a career of more than three decades linked to the pop genre that allowed her to establish herself as the first Chinese singer signed by Sony Music. In 1999, Lee debuted his first full English-language album, “Just No Other Way,” which included R&B-influenced hits like “Do You Want My Love.” From that album, ” Before I Fall in Love ” was chosen as the theme song for the Richard Gere and Julia Roberts romantic comedy “Runaway Bride.”
In her latest Instagram post, Lee shared photos of his tattoos that read “love” and “faith” scrawled across his arms.
“My two favorite words that I hold dearly to my heart and desperately needed to get me through this incredibly difficult year,” she wrote in the post.
” You are not alone, no matter how difficult life gets, I am with you ,” the singer wrote to her followers.
Mandopop singer-songwriter Wang Leehom paid tribute to Lee in an Instagram post, describing her as the “ biggest star ” everyone wanted to work with.
“In the music industry, Coco Lee broke through international barriers before any other Chinese singer ,” he wrote. “Let us always remember her as a brave pioneer and a major musical legend.”
Specialists point out that deaths by suicide never have a single trigger, but are the result of psychological, biological and social factors that have treatment.