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Coco Lee
Chinese name	李玟
Pinyin	Lǐ​ Wén​ (Mandarin)
Jyutping	Lei5 Man4 (Cantonese)
Birth name	李美林 Lei5 Mei5 Lam4
Ancestry	Harbin, China
Origin	Hong Kong
Born	January 17, 1975 (1975-01-17) (age 35)
Other name(s)	Ferren Lee-Kelly
Occupation	singer, songwriter, actress
Genre(s)	Pop, C-pop, dance-pop, hip hop, R&B, adult contemporary, soul
Label(s)	Capital Artists (1993–1994) Fancy Pie (1994–1996) 550 Music/Epic/Sony Music Entertainment/Sony BMG (1996–2008) Warner Music/MusicNation (2009–present)
Years active	1993–present
Awards Hong Kong Film Awards Best Original Film Song (A Love Before Time) Performer New Talent Singing Awards 1993 First Runner-Up 1994 Top 10 Most Popular Idol Best New Artist awards Other Awards the Golden Dragon Chart Awards 1996 best selling album (Coco Lee) of 1996 Best MV (Yesterday's passion) Awards 1997 Best Female Artist by the Best 10 Artists MTV Asia Music Awards 1998 Best Album (DiDaDi) Best Music Video (DiDaDi) MTV/CCTV Chinese Music Awards 1999 Artist of the year Radio Music Awards 1999 (Singapore) Best international newcomer International Golden Melody Awards Malaysia 2001 Most Popular Stage Showmanship Female M'sia Awards 2002 best songs (Baby I'm sorry, Dao ma dan, Aegean sea) MTV/CCTV Chinese Music Awards 2002 Best female artist of the year MTV Style Awards China 2003 Breakthrough International Artist of the Year Asia's Most Outstanding Performer1 Lycra Style Awards 2004 Asian Style Artist2 10 Best dressed of 2004 QQ Star Awards 2010 Female Singer of the Year 2009 Album of the Year 2009 Hit Music Awards 2010 Best song of the year 2009 (BYOB) Best female artist in Taiwan and Hong Kong area of the year 2009 This list is not exhaustive.

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Lee.

Coco Lee (Chinese: 李玟; pinyin: Lǐ​ Wén​), born on January 17, 1975,³ also known in America as Ferren Lee-Kelly, is a Chinese pop singer, songwriter, record producer and actress from Hong Kong.⁴ She is the only Asian artist to have multiple top-three singles in the MTV Asia Hitlist. "Do You Want My Love" also entered the music charts in America and the entire album, Just No Other Way gave Coco a break in the English market.⁵ Coco speaks Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese and English fluently.

Coco had first gained recognition when she won first runner-up in the 1993 New Talent Singing Awards with her rendition of Whitney Houston's "Run to You"⁶. A local record company noticed that Coco's voice stood out aside from being the only contestant to sing in English. The following day, Capital Artists asked her to sign a contract with their label.⁷

Coco is the first and only Chinese person to perform in the Oscars, singing the Academy Award nominee for Best Original Song, "A Love Before Time", from the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, in the 73rd Academy Awards in Los Angeles⁸. Coco also provided the voice of Mulan in the Mandarin version of Disney's animated feature of the same name.⁹

Coco's music has been influenced by genres ranging from pop, hip-hop, R'n'B, adult contemporary and soul. While her releases have often received mixed critical reception, she is renowned for her East-meets-West music and melismatic vocals. She has also been nicknamed the "Asian Pop Diva" by the media and due to her worldwide success, critics refer to Coco as the "Best-selling Female Artist" in the World.

In 2001, Asia Weekly magazine named Coco as one of the most powerful people in Asia on their Power 50 list.¹⁰

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life and discovery 1.2 Career beginnings 1.3 Her ascent 1.4 Current career 1.5 Private life 2 Quotations 3 Discography 3.1 Studio albums 3.2 Maxi singles 3.3 Compilations 3.4 Asian Chart-topping hits and singles 4 Videography 5 External links 6 References

Biography

Early life and discovery

Born and raised in Hong Kong with ancestry from Harbin, Northeast China, Coco is the youngest of three children. She has two elder sisters, Nancy, who was her manager before, and Carol. Her father died when she was young. When she was 10 years old, her mother brought Coco and her sisters together to live in San Francisco, California. She went through school while experimenting with her singing voice, and followed her elder sisters in entering several local singing contests. She attended Raoul Wallenberg Traditional High School in San Francisco. Later on, Coco had a brief enrollment at the University of California Irvine, but dropped out for poor grades.

Career beginnings

After Coco's high school graduation in 1992, she went back Hong Kong, China to see her two sisters' (Carol Lee and Nancy Lee) participation in the Miss Hong Kong Pageant, and while there, she came first runner-up in the 12th Annual New Talent Singing Awards by singing Whitney Houston's Run to you. The following day, Coco was approached by Capital Artists and asked her to sign a contract with them. She made her debut on June 15, 1993, with her compilation album, 火熱動感93勁秋版 (with the 1st track 火熱動感 LaLaLa). Then, she appeared in several compilations with other singers such as Edmond Leung, Allen Ting, Sammi Cheng or Andy Hui. A year later, she worked with Fancy Pie Records and released her first solo albums in Mandarin Love from now on and Promise me. In 1995, she released an English language cover album Brave enough to love (13000 copies sold in one month) as well as her third Mandarin album called Woman in love. Coco gained recognation and had her first big concert the same year in Taiwan, untitled You're in my heart.

Her ascent

In 1996, Coco signed a contract with Sony Music Entertainment. "Coco Lee" became the best selling album of 1996 in Asia, notably with the song Yesterday's passion, as was her second English cover album "CoCo's Party". In 1997, CoCo released her Mandarin album entitled "Sincere" as well as a self-titled Cantonese album (her native language). 1998 was an even bigger year for her. Her Mandarin album Di Da Di was released and sold to 1 million copies in less than 3 months. The hit song Di da di (cover of Maria Montell's "And So the Story Goes") is one of Coco's hit songs such as All I want to say, Longing to see you or Perfect in everyway from the same album.

For her next album Sunny day, Coco registered the song Colors of the world for the opening of the Football World Cup, and the song The answer for the Chinese movie Bishonen. What's more, Walt Disney Pictures hired her to sing the theme song "Reflection" and be the voice of the heroine Fa Mulan in the Mandarin version of Mulan. The English version of the song appears on her maxi single Take a chance on love as well as Missing you in 365 days, the theme song of the cartoon Lotus lantern.

The success of her Million fans concert in Taipei in 1998, second to Michael Jackson in terms of audience, with more than 30,000 people who watched, caught the attention of Sony Music United States and Tommy Mottola. In November, she had a concert at Bally, in Las Vegas. In 1999, Coco sang When you tell me that you love me with Julio Iglesias. This song appears on the Asian version of his album My life : The greatest hits. The same year, Coco sang Married you for the movie Notting Hill. This song appears on her Mandarin album Today til' forever. Later on, she was invited by Michael Jackson to perform at his "Michael Jackson and friends" charity concert in front of 60 000 people.

In 1999, 550 Music represented Coco with her stateside debut album, Just No Other Way. 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's English-language performance has received recognition throughout America, Asia, Australia and Europe. Indeed, She is the only Asian artist to have multiple top-three singles in the MTV Asia Hitlist with Before I fall in love in first place, then Do you want my love and Wherever you go, both from the same album, in second and third place.

In 2000, Coco released a new Mandarin album True lover you & me. The hit track True lover held n#1 spot for a record 13 weeks on. At the end of the year, she performed with Ricky Martin and followed him in his Asian tour. In 2001, CoCo sang the song A Love Before Time¹¹ for the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She received worldwide exposure when she performed the song live at the 73rd Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. Critics commented that she hit the high C6s right on, and delivered solid vocals. This song appears in English in the soundtrack album and in Mandarin in her next album named Promise released in October 2001. It contains Cantonese and Mandarin songs such as So crazy, Dao ma dan a duet with the singer Jay Chou and Baby I'm sorry, which immediately became great successes. In December, she had a Christmas concert at Mandalay Bay, in Las Vegas.

In 2002, Coco released her remix album D. Is Coco (Dance is Coco). She notably sang a song against tobacco called From the beginning til' the end with singer Jacky Cheung. Then, she was the featured performer at a Houston Rockets NBA game. She became the first Chinese singer to ever perform the US National Anthem at a major global sporting event.

In 2003, she performed with Shaggy at the "MTV Asia awards" in Singapore and also presented the show with him. Coco has also been getting into acting. She co-starred in the Chinese comedy movie Master of Everything (aka Bamboo Shoot) with John Lone, which won the Best Foreign Film award in the 2005 Beverly Hills Film Festival.

In the world of fashion and commerce, CoCo was an Omega Global Ambassador in 2004, and fashion house Chanel named CoCo its first "Asian-Pacific Celebrity Ambassadress". This brought Ferren's story full circle somewhat, as she got her nickname CoCo from being an admirer of the firm's products. CoCo, as the YouthAIDS ambassador had been to Bangkok, Thailand for the global AIDS conference in 2004. She attended the conference as the representative of the Asian artists to meet various youth groups discussing what she can do to educate them about AIDS.

In 2005, Sony BMG released her second English album, Exposed. This album contains the Korean theme song of Charlie's angels 2 called All around the world but also a duet called No doubt with Indian rapper Blaaze. Although Exposed was banned in Mainland China for sexy lyrics in a few songs such as Touch or So good, it was a great success throughout Asia. CoCo visited countries all over Asia to promote her album. During her visit in the Philippines, she guested in SOP and performed the songs "Do You Want My Love" and "I Will Survive" with Regine Velasquez. Then, Coco sang Reflection with Lea Salonga for the opening of the Hong Kong Disneyland.

Coco's follow up album to her C-Pop hit album Promise, titled Just Want You, features the hit single "Hip-Hop Tonight" with Vanness Wu, which follows in the same vein as No Doubt. The album Just Want You was released on September 22, 2006. Then, Coco Lee returned to San Francisco bay area for a live concert at the Shoreline Amphitheater on September 22, 2007 with special guest Alex To. It was her first live performance in her hometown in several years. In 2008, Coco was chosen to sing one of the Olympic songs, "Forever Friends", opposite Sun Nan¹². Later on, she changed her record company and decided to work with Warner Music (Taiwan).

In 2009, Coco Lee ranked No.15 in E! Entertainment's list of the world's 25 sexiest pop divas, ahead of Kylie Minogue (No.18), Jennifer Lopez (No.20) and other big names¹³.
On July 17, she had a solo concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. She's the first Chinese singer to ever perform in this place. She notably sang 3 Michael Jackson's songs Gone too soon, Rock with you and The way you make me feel in homage to her idol.
On August 14, she released her new Mandarin album East to west with Warner Music. It contains notably the songs "Party time", "Turn", the cover of Jay Sean's "Maybe" called "Love now", but also "BYOB" ("Bring Your Own Bag"), a song to encourage people to bring and recycle their own shopping bags to save the environment.

Current career

Coco's "East to West World Tour Concert" will have its first stop at Taipei Arena on March 27, 2010. Then, she'll perform in all China (Beijing on June 12), in Malaysia on May 15, in Australia (Sydney), in Canada (Toronto) and in the United States.

A limited version of her album East to west is released on March 17, 2010. It contains 3 more songs : Hello C, Beautiful dream and a remix of Turn. Beautiful dream was written for the 50th anniversary of Barbie dolls, brand which sponsors her Tour.

Private life

In June 2005, CoCo's engagement with Canadian businessman Bruce Rockowitz was made public, apparently having taken place some months earlier¹⁴. Bruce was born in Los Angeles in 1959 and has been living in Hong Kong for 30 years. He is the President of the group Li & Fung since 2004. Bruce was also the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Colby International Limited, a large Hong Kong buying agent prior to the sale of Colby to Li & Fung in 2000. He is a member of the Advisory Board for the Wharton's Jay H Baker Retailing Initiative, an industry center for retail at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to his position at Li & Fung, Bruce is the Chairman of the Pure Group (fitness and yoga group + restaurants "Red" and "Red Soho") operating in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan and soon to be opening in mainland China. He has two daughters Sarah and Rachel from a previous marriage.

Quotations

"I really idolize everything my sisters do, so I went into singing contests and won also. That's how I really got into singing."¹⁵

"People liked my voice so much, it was so different. I also combined the R&B feel with the pop music of Taiwan. Everyone there [in Taiwan] used to sing really conservatively – they sing to the melody and that's it. The music [Chinese music] just sounded so dead. I wanted to bring the R&B flavor and other Westernized sounds to my music, because that's the type of music I grew up listening to." (about her Asian audience)¹⁶

"When I work, I work. I don't think about anything else. I just wanna get the work done. And I'm a perfectionist."¹⁷

"They cannot imagine what I'll sound like. But always when I'm done singing, people are very surprised."¹⁸

Discography

To view a complete list of her albums, see Coco Lee's discography.

Studio albums Coco on the billboard of Pure Yoga in Hong Kong Fancy Pie Records releases June 1994: Love from Now On December 1994: Promise Me June 1995: Brave Enough to Love September 1995: Woman in Love December 1995 : You are in my heart concert August 1996 : Beloved Collection May 1997: Dance with the wind Sony Music releases March 1996: CoCo Lee (Love me longer) November 1996: CoCo's Party June 1997: Sincere (Everytime I think of you) November 1997: CoCo Lee (Be careful next time) January 1998: DiDaDi (HMV Music Chart: #1) July 1998: Sunny Day December 1998 : Million fans concert May 1999: Today Until Forever 550 Music release November 1999: Just No Other Way (HMV Music Chart: #1) Sony Music releases January 2000 : The Best of My Love August 2000: True lover you and Me October 2001: Promise June 2002 : D. IS CoCo Sony BMG releases March 2005: Exposed (HMV Music Chart: #1) September 2006: Just Want You (HMV Music Chart: #1) May 2008 : 1994–2008 Best Collection Warner Music releases August 2009: East To West Maxi singles Sony Music releases April 1998 : Di da di color remix August 1998 : Take a chance on love 550 Music releases 1999 : Do you want my love 2000 : Wherever you go Compilations Capital Artists releases June 1993 : Red hot hits 93' Autumn edition19 (火熱動感93'勁秋版) Capital Artists and Fancy Pie releases September 1994 : Red hot hits 94' Love Party20 (火熱動感94'戀愛Party) November 1994 : Statement of love, duet songs (愛情宣言, 情歌對唱) December 1994 : Merry Christmas (聖誕禮讚) 1995 : I'm still your lover (best of Love from now on and Promise me)21 Asian Chart-topping hits and singles Not exhaustive "Yesterday's passion" "Di Da Di" "Take a Chance on Love" "Do You Want My Love" Hot Dance Music/Club Play: #49 "Before I Fall in Love" "Wherever You Go" "A Love Before Time" (English and Mandarin for the soundtrack of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) "Reflection" "No Doubt" feat. Blaaze "All Around the World" "So Good" "Hip-Hop Tonight" "Brave Enough to Love" "Another Sad Love Song" (Dance Version) "The Ninth Night" "Dangerous Lover" "I Have a Dream" (2008 Single) "Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB)" (Recycling Jingle) "Party time" "Turn" "Beautiful theme song" Videography Coco (on the left), performing "Hip Hop Tonight" Fancy Pie releases 1995 : Foot print (VCD) 1995 : You're in my heart concert (VCD) Sony Music releases 1996 : Coco's workout camp (VCD) 1998 : Coco in Italy (VCD + photo book) 1998 : Di da di (VCD) 1998 : Sunny day (VCD) 1999 : Million fans concert (VCD/DVD) 550 Music releases 2000 : Just no other way, The Video Collection (VCD) Sony Music releases 2002 : Coco so crazy (VCD) 2002 : All my Coco (DVD) 2004 : Master of everything (DVD/VCD) External links Coco Lee's Website (English) Coco Lee's official Website (English/Chinese) References ^ "MTV Style Awards China 2003 Winners". November 29, 2003. http://www.cocolee.net/home/news/news-e-03-11.html. Retrieved 2008-03-11.  ^ "Lycra Style Awards". November 27, 2004. http://english.cri.cn/2007/2004-11-27/67@172922.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-07.  ^ "Coco Lee- Biography, Gallery, Forum and Videos". February 1, 2002. http://www.perfectpeople.net/celebrity-star/209/coco-lee.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-01.  ^ www.cocolee.net/profile/biography-e.html ^ "Singer of the Week". August 7, 2001. http://www.askmen.com/women/singer/38_coco_lee.html. Retrieved 2008-02-01.  ^ http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/uPuu2lSypIo/ ^ www.cocolee.net ^ "CoCo Lee - A Love Before Time(73rd Oscar)". 2004. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P96lPMJSECY. Retrieved 2008-02-01.  ^ www.askmen.com/women/singer/38_coco_lee.html ^ "Chinese Pop Music History 20 Years Special - CoCo Lee". December 12, 2007. http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4c13ebfd0100813j.html. Retrieved 2007-12-12.  ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As0T2HdP5NQ ^ http://en.beijing2008.cn/culture/songs/n214206508.shtml ^ http://english.cri.cn/6666/2009/02/27/1321s458566.htm ^ http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/showbiz/2008-10/27/content_7144850.htm ^ "Awards and Quotations". February 1, 2008. http://www.allmovieportal.com/c/cocolee.html. Retrieved 2008-02-01.  ^ "All about Coco Lee". January 1, 2008. http://www.allmovieportal.com/c/cocolee.html. Retrieved 2008-03-01.  ^ "Quotations straight from Coco!". March 1, 2008. http://www.allmovieportal.com/c/cocolee.html. Retrieved 2008-02-15.  ^ "Coco Lee's Awards and Quotations". March 1, 2008. http://www.allmovieportal.com/c/cocolee.html. Retrieved 2008-03-01.  ^ http://lh4.ggpht.com/_x9bPXf77xGc/StXTfYwlTUI/AAAAAAAAHx8/zlAM28zZfqg/s800/lalala01.jpg ^ http://www.imusic.cn/pic/07/13/50_20080618_152357_5137s.jpg ^ "HK POP COCO LEE 我依然是你的情人 FIRST ALBUM HONG KONG CD 1ST - eBay (item 300371867867 end time Mar-28-10 01:56:29 PDT)". http://cgi.ebay.com/HK-POP-COCO-LEE-FIRST-ALBUM-HONG-KONG-CD-1ST_W0QQitemZ300371867867QQihZ020QQcategoryZ307QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286.m7QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D4%26ps%3D63.