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Coco Lee Dies: ‘Mulan’ And ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ Singer Dead At 48
Hong Kong-based singer and songwriter Coco Lee died last yesterday after attempting to suicide this weekend, according to a post on Facebook by Lee’s sisters.
Lee was best known for the Madarin version of the Disney-owned Mulan’s theme song called Reflection in 1998. She was also the first Chinese American who performed at Oscars. She sang the A Love Before Time – a song that was nominated for the Best Original Song that year. The song was featured in Ang Lee’s famous film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Lee’s sisters Nancy and Carol said that Lee was in coma since attempting suicide during the weekend.
The Facebook post stated,
“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. Although, Coco sought professional help and did her best to fight depression, sadly that demon inside of her took the better of her.”
The sisters also mentioned that Lee tried to take her life on the 2nd of July when she was at home. She was immediately rushed to the hospital where she was in a coma until passing away yesterday.
Looking Back…
Born in 1975 at Hong Kong, Lee moved to the United States sometime before or during middle school – she attended middle school and high school in the United States, before starting her carrer in pop music in Asia.
Although Lee began her career as a Mando-pop singer, she went on to release albums in English and Cantonese in a career spanning three decades. Lee became the first ever Chinese singer who was signed globally by Sony Music. She went on to voice Mulan’s heroine Fa in the Mandarin version of the film, apart from singing the Mandarin version of the theme song.
Lee famously sang the end-credit title song of Ang Lee’s film, ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ called A Love Before Time in 2001 – the song was later nominated at the Oscars for Best Music, Original Category. Lee also performed the song live at the Oscars – the lyrics were written by James Schamus and the music was composed by Jorge Callandelli.
The ‘Mulan’ singer also made a stint in the acting world with three films,
- Stanley Kwan’s 2002 film, No Tobacco.
- Lee Xin’s 2004 film, Master Of Everything.
- He Jiong’s 2015 film, Forever Young.
Lee made regular appearances as a judge on standard Chinese talent television hows like Come Sing With Me, and Chinese Idol.
Lee got married to Bruce Rockowitz, a Canadian businessman and the former Chief Executive Officer of Li & Fung – a supply chain company – and became mother to stepdaughters from this marriage.
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