Coco Lee

Lee performed the song "A Love Before Time" from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon at the 73rd Academy Awards, becoming the first, and so far only, Chinese to perform at the Academy Awards.

She was also the first Chinese-American singer to sing at an NBA game, the first Asian to hold a concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the first non-mainland Chinese singer to win the Chinese reality show I Am A Singer, and the first Chinese- brand ambassador for Chanel.

She spent most of her life in Hong Kong and died there at the age of 48.

Ferren "Coco" Lee (17 January 1975 – 5 July 2023) was a Chinese-American singer and songwriter.

She was raised in Hong Kong and the United States.

Lee began her career in Hong Kong before expanding to Taiwan and internationally.

She released 18 studio albums, two live albums, and five compilation albums.

Lee has been described as "enormously influential" and Asia's Mariah Carey.

She was also noted for her Americanized dance routines.

Ferren Lee was born on 17 January 1975 in Hong Kong or Wuhan.

She had two elder sisters, Carol and Nancy.

Nancy would become Coco's manager early on.

Lee′s father died before she was born.

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.

She was crowned Miss Teen Chinatown San Francisco in 1991 when she was 16.

Lee won a local singing contest twice at 17.

The first time, she joined 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.

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.

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.

She voiced the lead character Fa Mulan in the Mandarin version of Mulan, a 1998 animated Disney film, and sang its theme song, "Reflection".

She was the first Chinese singer to break into the American market.

In 1998, the Mandarin album Di Da Di (Di Da Di·暗示) was released, selling 1 million copies in less than 3 months.

Her album Just No Other Way, which was released in 1999, was the first English-language R&B album recorded by a Chinese singer.

Her English single "Do You Want My Love" received international attention, appearing on the US Billboard Hot Dance Breakouts chart at No. 4 and entering the top 50 of the US Billboard Dance Club Play chart as well as the Australian Singles Chart.