Remembering Coco Lee

Lee's sisters want fans to remember her "bright smile"

Fans are mourning the loss of singer Coco Lee, who died on Wednesday after she attempted suicide on Sunday and had been in a coma since then. She was 48 years old.

Her older sisters made the announcement on Instagram, saying in part:

"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," the sisters said.

She married Rockowitz in 2011 at the Ritz-Carlton

"Although Coco sought professional help and did her best to fight depression, sadly that demon inside of her took the better of her."

They added that this year marked the 30th anniversary of Lee's career, and that they would now focus on looking after their elderly mother.

The Instagram post did not mention Lee's husband, Bruce Rockowitz, with whom she tied the knot in 2011 in a mega star-studded wedding celebration at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong. There were rumours in 2019 that the marriage was on the rocks, and that she had tried to get pregnant through in vitro fertilisation but was unsuccessful.

Last October she had moved out of their home and into a serviced apartment in the Four Seasons Hong Kong. But on June 30 she was hospitalised briefly, then moved into her sister's home on the Peak, where she attempted suicide.

Lee was best known for singing A Love Before Time, from Ang Lee's 2000 movie, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She was the first Chinese singer to perform the song at the Academy Awards the following year.

Throughout her three-decade career, Lee released 15 albums, and her single Do You Want My Love climbed to number four on the US Billboard charts in December 1999.

She also voiced the character Mulan in Disney's animated film in 1998 and sang the theme song, Reflection.

The last single she released in February was called Tragic. In her social media post at the end of 2022, Lee acknowledged she had an "incredibly difficult year", but encouraged her fans to spread positivity and "be an influential figure to inspire people."

It's devastating to discover how much pain she was in, and how she felt she had to keep it from people. But as her sisters say, she is now free from pain and depression, though she leaves behind a heartbroken family and legions of fans who admired her for years.