COCO LEE

Coco Lee Biography
Name: Coco Lee
Chinese name: 李玟
Profession: Singer, Actress
Born at: Hong Kong
Residing at:The United States
Birth Name: Ferren Lee-Kelly
Height: 5′ 7″
Birth Date: January 17, 1976


Education: Raoul Wallenburg Alternative High School (San Francisco) University of California, Irvine (UCI)
Mother: A medical doctor
Sister: Has two sisters and both are older
Claim to fame: The song A Love Before Time from the Soundtrack Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon


Ferren Lee-Kelly (李美林 Pinyin: Lin Měilín; also 李玟 Lee Wén) (born January 17, 1975), better known by the stage name CoCo Lee, is a C-pop star who has also recorded albums in English, contributed to several movies and represented internationally-known products to the Asian market. Her voice, especially in Just No Other Way, has been favourably compared with that of Mariah Carey.


CoCo Lee was born in Hong Kong with ancestry from Harbin, China. Her father died when she was young, and CoCo moved with her mother and sister to California at age 10 and went through school while experimenting with her singing voice and following her older sisters in entering several local singing contests. CoCo also often spoke of how close she is to her mother, even now. She said in interviews that her life in the past was not easy, and she always tried to save as much money as possible, doing errands to earn money. While she is not of rich background, she is not so poor until she has no roof above her head, or no food on the table - she says in an interview. After her high school graduation in 1993 she took a holiday in Hong Kong, and while there she came runner-up in a major singing talent quest. The following day she was approached by local record label Fancy Pie Records, recording four studio albums with them in 1994-95 before being picked up in 1996 by Sony who have continued to represent her ever since.

CoCo sang the theme song “A Love Before Time” for the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She received worldwide exposure when she performed the song live at the 2001 Academy Awards ceremony. Comments on Youtube and other internet media forums commented that she hit the high C6s right on, and delivered solid vocals. Her singing on the stage was skilled and she did not over-sing the song, bringing to the West the lovely beauty of Easternized music and culture. Her exquisite red dress which she wore to the Academy Awards Ceremony for the movie nomination, and her graceful stage presence gained her much applause in the West.

In addition to her mega-star status in the Mandarin and Cantopop music market, her English-language performance has also received recognition. Her song “Before I Fall In Love” was included in the soundtrack of the movie Runaway Bride. Before I Fall In Love is perhaps her most popular Just No Other Way song. Olinda Cho who is a third runner-up in the first Singapore Idol show sang this for the semi-finals.

She was invited by Andrew Lloyd Webber to perform Phantom of the Opera in China.

Also, Walt Disney Pictures hired her to sing the title song and be the voice of the heroine Fa Mulan in the Mandarin Chinese version of Mulan. She recorded the song “Reflections”, which she also sang at the 2005 opening of the Hong Kong Disneyland A “Reflections” Chinese music video was also filmed. While the Christina Aguilera version of the English version is more widely known, CoCo did also sing the English version, including one which she sang together with Christina.


CoCo also does part-time acting. This all-rounded entertainer co-starred in the movie comedy Master of Everything (aka Bamboo Shoot) with John Lone, which won the Best Foreign Film award at the 2005 Beverly Hills Film Festival. In character in this movie she sang one of her own hit songs, “Di-Da-Di”, which was a cover of Maria Montell’s “And So The Story Goes”.

In the world of fashion and commerce, CoCo was an Omega Watches 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.

In June 2005 CoCo’s engagement to millionaire Canadian businessman Bruce Rockowitz was made public, apparently having taken place some months earlier.

Photos sourced from she.xicn.net

More Info:
Official Site