Hong Kong-born singer CoCo Lee, whose decades-long profession in Asia led to international renown, has died by suicide, her siblings mentioned Wednesday. She was 48 years outdated.
The star had been affected by despair lately, “but her condition deteriorated drastically over the last few months,” her two elder sisters Carol and Nancy Lee wrote in a press release on Instagram.
Lee tried suicide at dwelling on Sunday and was rushed to hospital, the place medical doctors tried to revive her from a coma. She died three days afterward Wednesday, her sisters wrote.
“Although, CoCo sought professional help and did her best to fight depression, sadly that demon inside of her took the better of her,” the assertion reads.
Her sisters notice that this yr marked the thirtieth anniversary of Lee’s singing profession, which introduced her big success throughout China and Taiwan, particularly within the late Nineties and early 2000s. Her demise prompted an outpouring of grief in each and wall-to-wall information protection in Taiwan.
Lee’s most notable performances embody voicing Fa Mulan within the Mandarin-language model of the Disney traditional Mulan, in regards to the legendary Chinese folks heroine. She additionally sang the Mandarin model of the film’s theme tune, Reflection.
Lee sang the romantic ballad A Love Before Time within the martial arts journey film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which propelled her to international fame. She famously carried out the Oscar-nominated tune on the 2001 Academy Awards present in a telecast seen by tens of hundreds of thousands.
In their assertion, Lee’s sisters wrote that she “won countless international acclaims with top selling songs and has left audience with an astounding impression of her excellent live performances.”
“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. We are proud of her!” they wrote.
Singer Coco Lee performs onstage throughout her live performance on the Taipei Arena on June 21, 2019 in Taipei, Taiwan of China.
VCG/VCG by way of Getty Images
Born Ferren Lee in Hong Kong, the star later moved to the U.S. together with her household, the place she attended center and highschool in San Francisco. On a go to again to Hong Kong after highschool, Lee gained first runner-up in a singing contest, which went on to kick-start her music profession.
In 1996, Lee signed with Sony Music Entertainment and her debut album, Coco Lee, turned the best-selling album of that yr in Asia.
Though Lee initially began off as a Mandopop singer, she later branched out to launch albums in Cantonese and English, with hundreds of thousands of albums offered. Her English tune Do You Want My Love charted at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Breakouts chart in December 1999.
In 2011, Lee married Bruce Rockowitz, a Canadian businessman who’s the previous CEO of Hong Kong provide chain firm Li & Fung. While she had two stepdaughters from her marriage with Rockowitz, Lee didn’t have kids of her personal.
In Lee’s most up-to-date Instagram put up, dated Dec. 31, 2022, she shared a number of footage of herself, together with tattoos of the phrases “love” and “faith” in addition to an image of what seems to be a drainage bag taped to her physique.
“Love & Faith — my two favorite words that I carry strongly in my heart which I desperately needed to get through this incredibly difficult year,” she wrote within the caption. “Life seemed unbearable at times but I adapted the attitude of a ‘female warrior’ to face them head on fearlessly.”
In the wake of her demise, quite a few followers and mates have flocked to the feedback of her last put up to pay their respects.
Mandopop singer-songwriter Wang Leehom described her because the “biggest star” whom everybody wished to work with.
“In the music industry, Coco Lee broke down international barriers, before any other Chinese singer did,” he wrote. “Let’s always remember her, as a brave pioneer, and an important musical legend.”
Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai posted a message on Facebook that learn “R.I.P., your bright smile will always be remembered.”
— With information from The Associated Press
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If you or somebody is in disaster and desires assist, assets can be found. In case of an emergency, please name 911 for instant assist.
For a listing of assist companies in your space, go to the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention at suicideprevention.ca.
Learn extra about preventing suicide with these warning indicators and tips about find out how to assist.
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