Hong Kong-born singer CoCo Lee, whose decades-long career in Asia led to global renown, has died by suicide, her siblings said Wednesday. She was 48 years old.
The star had been suffering from depression in recent years, “but her condition deteriorated drastically over the last few months,” her two elder sisters Carol and Nancy Lee wrote in a statement on Instagram.
Lee attempted suicide at home on Sunday and was rushed to hospital, where doctors attempted to revive her from a coma. She died three days later on Wednesday, her sisters wrote.
“Although, CoCo sought professional help and did her best to fight depression, sadly that demon inside of her took the better of her,” the statement reads.
A post shared by Nancy Si Lin Lee (@nancy_yauyetei)
Her sisters note that this year marked the 30th anniversary of Lee’s singing career, which brought her huge success across China and Taiwan, especially in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Her death prompted an outpouring of grief in both and wall-to-wall news coverage in Taiwan.
Lee’s most notable performances include voicing Fa Mulan in the Mandarin-language version of the Disney classic Mulan, about the legendary Chinese folk heroine. She also sang the Mandarin version of the movie’s theme song, Reflection.
Lee sang the romantic ballad A Love Before Time in the martial arts adventure movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which propelled her to global fame. She famously performed the Oscar-nominated song at the 2001 Academy Awards show in a telecast viewed by tens of millions.
In their statement, Lee’s sisters wrote that she “won countless international acclaims with top selling songs and has left audience with an astounding impression of her excellent live performances.”
“CoCo
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