Hong Kong artist and songwriter Coco Lee, known for performing songs from movies like “Mulan” or “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, He died this Wednesday at the age of 48 after a suicide attempt, his older sisters, Carol and Nancy, reported in a Facebook post.
Her relatives explained that the singer had tried to take her own life last Sunday and had been rushed to a hospital nearby, where he remained in a coma until his death.
Lee, who voiced the main character Fa in “Mulan” (1998) and sang the song “Reflection” in the Mandarin version of the film, had been suffering from “depression for a few years” and his condition had deteriorated “drastically” in the last months.
“Although Coco sought professional help and did everything she could to fight her depression, unfortunately that demon inside her got the better of her,” her sisters said.
Coco Lee (Hong Kong, 1975) sIn 2001, she became the first American of Chinese origin to perform at the Oscars. thanks to the song nominated for best original song “A Love Before Time”, from the film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”.
In addition, she was also the first Chanel brand ambassador of Chinese descent for the Asian region and became one of the top pop personalities in her native country.
“Coco is also known for having worked tirelessly to open up a new world for Chinese singers on the international music scene. (…) We are proud of her!” Carol and Nancy Lee added in the statement released on Wednesday.
Despite her Hong Kong origin, Lee moved to the United States at the age of 9 to study primary, secondary and high school, before beginning a career of more than three decades linked to the pop genre that allowed her to establish herself as the first Chinese singer signed by Sony. Music, with albums released in both English and Cantonese.
The artist has also worked as a jury on television music contests such as China Idol and appeared in up to three films: “No Tobacco” (2002), by Stanley Kwan; “Master Of Everything” (2004), by Lee Xin, and “Forever Young” (2015), by He Jiong.
Specialists point out that deaths by suicide never have a single trigger, but are the result of psychological, biological and social factors that have treatment.