Coco Lee, a Hong Kong-born singer and songwriter who grew up in California and whose career spanned two continents, died July 5 at a hospital near her home in Hong Kong. She was 48.
The entertainer had depression and died by suicide, Ms. Lee’s elder sisters Carol and Nancy Lee said in a statement.
Born Ferren Lee in Hong Kong on Jan. 17, 1975, Ms. Lee grew up in San Francisco with her mother and siblings after the death of her father. She briefly attended the University of California at Irvine but left to focus on her burgeoning singing career. She was first runner up in an annual singing competition held by broadcaster TVB in Hong Kong and released her first album in 1994 at the age of 19.
Ms. Lee initially started off as a singer of Mandarin popular music — known as Mandopop — and later branched out to release albums in Cantonese and English during her nearly 30-year career. She was best known for her live performances, but her English-language recording of “Do You Want My Love” charted at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Breakouts chart in December 1999.
Ms. Lee was the voice of heroine Fa Mulan in the Mandarin version of Disney’s 1998 animated film “Mulan” and also sang the Mandarin version of the movie’s theme song “Reflection.”
In 2011, Ms. Lee married Bruce Rockowitz, a Canadian businessman who is the former chief executive of Hong Kong supply chain company Li & Fung. In addition to her sisters, Ms. Lee’s survivors include her husband and two stepdaughters.
