Coco Lee Biography
Coco Lee is the stage name of Ferren Lee-Kelly (born January 17, 1975). She 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 and Regine Velasquez.
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 has often spoke of how close she is to her mother, even now. She has said in interviews that her life in the past was not easy, and she had always tried to save as much money as possible, doing errands to earn some money. While she was not of rich background, she was not so poor to the point that she had no roof above her head, or no food on the table – she says in an interview.
After Lee’s high school graduation in 1993, she took a holiday in Hong Kong, and while there she came runner-up in the 12th Annual New Talent Singing Awards. The following day, she was approached by local record label Fancy Pie Records, recording four studio albums with them in 1994-95
CoCo Lee was in Fancy Pie Records, a local record label, from 1994 to 1995, before being picked up in 1996 by Sony, who has continued to represent her ever since. There are claims that her record company does not see much potential in her, a reason for the lukewarm marketing and making of her recent albums since about 2003.
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 also gained her much applause in the West.[citation needed]
In 2002, CoCo 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 addition to her mega-star status in the Mandarin and Cantopop music market, Lee’s English-language performance has also received recognition. Her song Before I Fall In Love was included in the soundtrack of the movie Runaway Bride.
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 Chinese 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. CoCo, as the YouthAIDS ambassador had been to Bangkok, Thailand for the global AIDS conference in year 2004. She attended the conference as the representative of the Asian artists to meet various youth groups discussing what she can do to educate and protect them from contracting AIDS.
In June 2005 CoCo’s engagement to millionaire Canadian businessman Bruce Rockowitz was made public, apparently having taken place some months earlier. Despite Bruce being 15 years her senior, CoCo’s mother approved the marriage, it should be noted that she didn’t approve of many of Coco’s past boyfriends.
As of 2006, CoCo Lee has yet to break the US Market with a big single.