Coco Lee (; born Ferren Lee, 17 January 1975) is a Hong Kong-American singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actress. Lee's career began in Hong Kong and then expanded to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. Her single, "Do You Want My Love" also entered the US music

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

. Her first full-length English-language

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

was '' Just No Other Way'' (1999) . At the Oscars, she performed the Best Original Song nominated, "A Love Before Time" from the movie ''

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' is a 2000 wuxia film directed by Ang Lee and written for the screen by Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus, and Tsai Kuo-jung . The film features a cast of actors of Chinese ethnicity, including Chow Yun-fat, ...

''.

Early life

Lee was born in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

, she is the youngest of three children and was born to a

Chinese Indonesian Chinese Indonesians ( id, Orang Tionghoa Indonesia) and colloquially Chindo or just Tionghoa are Indonesians whose ancestors arrived from China at some stage in the last eight centuries. Chinese people and their Indonesian descendants have ...

father and a Hongkong

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding a ...

mother. She has two elder sisters, Nancy, who was her manager before, and Carol. Her father died before she was born. When she was 9 years old, her mother brought Lee and her sisters to live in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. She attended Presidio Middle School and

Raoul Wallenberg Traditional High School Raoul Wallenberg Traditional High School is a high school in San Francisco, California, USA. It was founded in 1981 in honor of the Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat, and humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg. In recognition of its namesake, the sc ...

, both in San Francisco. The summer after graduating from high school, she was offered a recording contract in Hong Kong and attempted to juggle her burgeoning career there with her studies at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...

but eventually left after her freshman year to concentrate on her pop career.

Career

Career beginnings and Sony Music: 1992–1998

After Lee graduated from high school in 1992, she returned to Hong Kong to see her sisters participate in the Miss Hong Kong Pageant. While there, she took part in the 12th Annual

New Talent Singing Awards New Talent Singing Awards (Traditional Chinese character, Traditional Chinese: 新秀歌唱大賽) or ''NTSA'' for short, later re-organised into New Talent Singing Awards International Finals (Traditional Chinese character, Traditional Chinese ...

and was the first runner-up, singing

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Voice", she is Whitney Houston albums discography, one of the bestselling music artists ...

's ''Run to you''. The following day,

Capital Artists Capital Artists is a Hong Kong–based record label, owned by eSun Holdings, a subsidiary of Lai Sun Development. Founded in 1971, Capital Artists signed some of the biggest names in the Cantopop industry, including Roman Tam, Anita Mui, and ...

offered her a recording contract. She made her debut by appearing in several compilation albums, such as ''Red Hot Hits '93 Autumn Edition'' (火熱動感93勁秋版). In 1994, working with Fancy Pie Records, she released her first solo albums in Mandarin, ''Love from Now On'' (愛就要趁現在) and ''Promise Me'' (答應我). In 1995, she released an English language cover album, ''Brave Enough to Love'', as well as her third Mandarin album, ''Woman in Love'' (被愛的女人). In 1996, Lee signed a contract with

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

and her subsequent album, "''Coco Lee''" became the best-selling album of 1996 in Asia. In 1997, she released the Mandarin album "Sincere" as well as a self-titled Cantonese album. In 1998, the Mandarin album ''Di Da Di'' was released and sold to 1 million copies in less than 3 months.

International collaborations and English debut: 1998–2005

From her next album ''Sunny day'', "Colors of the World" was used for the opening of the Football World Cup, and the song ''The answer'' (答案) for the Chinese movie Bishonen.

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit ...

hired her to sing the theme song "Reflection" (自己) and be the voice of the heroine Fa Mulan in the Mandarin version of '' Mulan''. In August 1998, Coco performed in Taiwan to a concert audience of more than 30,000 fans, the second largest concert audience in Taiwan (a feat that only Michael Jackson has claimed in the past). She also performed in

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...

's "Michael Jackson and friends" charity concert. In 1999, under 550 Music, Lee made her debut '' Just No Other Way'' which included the smashing hit, '' Do You Want My Love''. Her love song ''Before I Fall In Love'' was included in the soundtrack of the movie '' Runaway Bride''. She also had 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 Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), the first identified strain of the SARS coronavirus species, ''seve ...

with other artists including

Wang Leehom Wang Leehom (; born May 17, 1976), sometimes credited as Leehom Wang, is an American singer-songwriter, actor, producer, and film director. Formally trained at Eastman School of Music, Williams College and Berklee College of Music, his music ...

, Stefanie Sun,

Elva Hsiao Elva Hsiao (, born 24 August 1979) is a Taiwanese singer, dancer, actress and businesswoman. Since being signed to a record deal in 1998 after competing in a singing competition, Hsiao has gone on to release fourteen studio albums and has achie ...

, and

Jolin Tsai Jolin Tsai (; ; born September 15, 1980) is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, and actress. Referred to as the " Queen of C-Pop", she is considered one of the most influential figures in Chinese popular culture. She is known for her continual rein ...

. Back in Asia, she released a Mandarin album ''You & me''. By 2000 she had released 20 albums in Asia and had sold 7.5 million copies of her albums in that continent. In 2001, Lee sang the song ''A Love Before Time'' for the movie ''

''. Her album, ''Promise Coco'' released in October 2001. In 2002, Lee released her remix album ''D. Is Coco'' (Dance is Coco). She sang a song against tobacco called ''From the beginning til' the end'' (煙絲萬縷) with singer

Jacky Cheung Jacky Cheung Hok-yau (born 10 July 1961) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. Dubbed the " God of Songs", he is regarded as one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Hong Kong pop music. Cheung is known for his technically skilled vocals, lengthy tours, and ...

. She sang the anti racism song ''A dream of one'' with Korean singer Jin Young Park. In 2003, she performed with

Shaggy Shaggy may refer to: People *Shaggy (musician) (born 1968), Jamaican American reggae rapper and singer *Shaggy 2 Dope, half of the hip hop, horrorcore band Insane Clown Posse *Shaggy Flores (born 1973), Nuyorican poet, writer and African diaspora ...

at the "MTV Asia awards" in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

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 The Beverly Hills Film Festival (BHFF) is a film festival in the United States founded in 2001 by independent filmmaker Nino Simone. The festival is an international competition dedicated to showcasing the art and talent of emerging filmmakers ...

. In 2004, as the Youth AIDS ambassador, she attended the global AIDS conference in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

, Thailand as the representative of the Asian artists to meet various youth groups discussing what she can do to educate them about AIDS.

Second English album and Warner Music: 2005–2011

In 2005,

Sony BMG Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyou ...

released her second English album, ''

Exposed Expose, exposé, or exposed may refer to: News sources * Exposé (journalism), a form of investigative journalism * '' The Exposé'', a British conspiracist website Film and TV Film * ''Exposé'' (film), a 1976 thriller film * ''Exposed'' (1932 ...

''. The album was banned in Mainland China for sexy lyrics in a few songs such as ''Touch'' or ''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

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

songs, " Forever Friends", opposite

Sun Nan Sun Nan (; born February 18, 1969) is a pop singer from Dalian in mainland China. His songs include "Be there or Be Square", "The Wind Goes to North", "Save", and his song for the 2008 Summer Olympics, "Forever Friends". Sun's album ''Crescent ...

. She changed her record company to work with ''

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and th ...

'' (Taiwan) from ''Music Nation''. On 14 August, she released her new Mandarin album ''East to west'' (CoCo的東西) with

. It contains the songs "Party time", "Turn" (流轉) which is the soundtrack of the movie "The Legend of Silkboy" (世博总动员-湖丝仔) 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 Wayne Lin Junjie (; born 27 March 1981), better known by his stage name JJ Lin, is a Singaporean singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Lin launched his musical career by releasing his debut album '' Music Voyager'' (2003). GIO, Taiwa ...

Andy Lau Andy Lau Tak-wah (; born 27 September 1961) is a Hong Kong actor, singer-songwriter and film producer. He has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maint ...

Jam Hsiao Jam Hsiao Ching-Teng (, born 30 March 1987) is a Taiwanese singer and actor. At the age of 17, while still in high school, he began working as a restaurant singer. In May 2007, Hsiao took part in the first season of China Television (CTV)'s sta ...

Jane Zhang Jane Zhang (; born October 11, 1984) is a Chinese singer-songwriter. She is known for her signature whistle register and has been dubbed the " Dolphin Princess" (). Zhang began performing as a teenager by singing in pubs to help earn money for ...

for Shanghai World Expo 2010. On 27 March 2010, Lee began her "East2West" World Tour Concert in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

at ''

Taipei Arena The Taipei Arena () is a multi-purpose stadium located in Songshan, Taipei, Taiwan, and it is operated by the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC). Built in 2005, the large multi-purpose stadium can accommodate major international sport ...

''. She performed at the ''Encore Theatre'' in

Wynn Casino Wynn Las Vegas, often simply referred to as Wynn, is a luxury resort and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by Wynn Resorts, and was built on the former site of the Desert Inn resort ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

on 3 and 4 July, then in ''

Singapore Indoor Stadium The Singapore Indoor Stadium, known exonymously as the Indoor Stadium, is an indoor arena located in Kallang, Singapore. It is within walking distance of the Singapore National Stadium, and collectively form a part of the wider Singapore Spor ...

'' in

on 2 October and in

Nanning Nanning (; ; za, Namzningz) is the capital and largest city by population of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush subtropical foliage. Located in the South o ...

on 16 December. In March 2011, Lee was one of many artists participating in the recording of "Artists 311 Love Beyond Borders" (愛心無國界311燭光晚會) official theme song called ''Succumb not to sorrow'' (不要輸給心痛) in Cantonese version. On 7 April 2011, her song ''Dreams on oriental seas'' (梦在东方的海上) featuring

was broadcast. It was named as the theme for the 14th FINA world championships, that took place in Shanghai on 16 July 2011.

New album: 2011–present

On 8 June 2011, Lee announced that 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'' (水滸傳), was broadcast. On 17 December 2011, she performed at "Booey Lehoo Concert" in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

with will.i.am and

apl.de.ap Allan Pineda Lindo (born November 28, 1974), known professionally as apl.de.ap (), is a Filipino-American rapper, singer and record producer. He is a founding member of the hip hop group Black Eyed Peas. Early life Allan Pineda Lindo was born ...

from

The Black Eyed Peas Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo (rapper), Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie (singer ...

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Eve ...

and Shunza. On 9 February 2012, she performed at "I AM WILL / I AM ANGEL Benefit Concert" at

Hollywood Palladium The Hollywood Palladium is a theater located at 6215 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. It was built in a Streamline Moderne, Art Deco style and includes an dance floor including a mezzanine and a floor level with room for up to 4,000 ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

with will.i.am,

and

Taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

from

. Her new album ''Illuminate'' (盛開) was released on 31 May 2013 with

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and it ...

. 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 Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...

in 2014 had affected her singing ability. However, she recovered from it 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 Jessica Ellen Cornish (born 27 March 1988), known professionally as Jessie J, is an English singer. Born and raised in London, she began her career on stage, aged 11, with a role in the West End musical '' Whistle Down the Wind''. She studied ...

, the eventual winner of that season.

Personal life

Lee married

Bruce Rockowitz Bruce Philip Rockowitz (born October 24, 1958) is a Canadian businessman, the chairman of Rock Media International and co-founder of the Pure Group. Early life Rockowitz was born on October 24, 1958. He dropped out of the University of Vermont t ...

(born 1958), a Jewish-Canadian businessman and former CEO of

Li & Fung Li & Fung Limited is a Bermuda-incorporated, Hong Kong-based supply chain manager. In 2020, it was reportedly struggling to turn its century-old business around for years. On 13 February 2017, it was removed from the blue chip index: Hang Seng ...

on 27 October 2011 in a lavish Jewish wedding ceremony in Hong Kong. For her wedding, she registered the song "I just wanna marry u" (Chinese and English version), which was released on 24 October 2011. In 2016, she revealed that she has two adult step-daughters from her husband's previous marriage.

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Remix albums

Extended plays

Maxi Singles

Digital Singles

Various artists compilation albums

Videography

Filmography

Film

Television

Concert Tours

Tours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Coco 1975 births 550 Music artists Actresses from the San Francisco Bay Area American dance musicians American female dancers Dancers from California American contemporary R&B singers American film actresses American musicians of Chinese descent Record producers from California American dancers of Asian descent American mezzo-sopranos American hip hop singers American female hip hop musicians Cantopop singers 21st-century American actresses English-language singers from Hong Kong Epic Records artists Hong Kong emigrants to the United States 20th-century Hong Kong women singers Hong Kong film actresses Hong Kong hip hop musicians Hong Kong Mandopop singers Hong Kong record producers Hong Kong songwriters Hong Kong television actresses Hong Kong mezzo-sopranos Living people Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area New Talent Singing Awards contestants Sony BMG artists University of California, Irvine alumni Warner Music Group artists Mezzo-sopranos Songwriters from California 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers American soul singers American women record producers