Hong Kong bids farewell to trailblazing Chinese singer Coco Lee, remembered as kind, loyal and gracious
- Tributes flow from eldest sister Nancy Lee, singer Elva Hsiao, schoolmates and others including Cantopop legend Andy Lau at funeral home in North Point
- Hong Kong fans join others from across mainland China to take part in second half of service open to public
A forest of flowers surrounded a photo of a smiling Coco Lee in the main hall of a Hong Kong funeral home on Monday as family, friends and celebrities were joined by fans who had travelled from as far away as Beijing and Malaysia to pay their respects to the pop star, who blazed a trail for Chinese singers.
Fans began gathering outside the funeral parlour in North Point hours before the ceremony began shortly after 4pm.
Staff members helped to clear a path for the arrival of some of the biggest local names in entertainment and business, many wearing sunglasses and dressed in black, who avoided media questions as they solemnly entered the building.
The first half of the service, which lasted about two hours, was closed to the public but live-streamed on a dedicated YouTube channel.
Ahead of the delivery of nine eulogies, Coco Lee’s eldest sister, Nancy Lee, paid tribute to the singer in both Mandarin and English, speaking against the backdrop of the banks of orchids and other flowers spread out in front of the portrait of the diva.
“My sister would often say this in her concerts: you could have chosen to go anywhere, but today you chose to come here [and] be with me, for that, I thank all of you,” she said.
Singer Jenny Tseng, close friend Elva Hsiao, Warner Music Asia co-president Jonathan Serbin and Coco Lee’s schoolmates from San Francisco also remembered Lee, who died at age 48 earlier this month after a suicide attempt following a long battle with depression.
“Kind, genuine, thoughtful, loyal, generous, funny, adventurous, gracious, those are only a few words that I used that describe my dear friend,” said high school classmate Susana Jung.
Video tributes were also shown including from Cantopop legends Andy Lau Tak-wah and Hacken Lee Hak-kan, as well as martial arts legend Jackie Chan.
“Coco, we will always remember you, we hope that you are freely dancing and singing in Heaven,” Chan said.
“When we miss you, we will look at the stars. I believe you will always be one of the brightest stars in the sky.”
Fans dressed in black sat on the pavement outside the funeral home and in a nearby park watching the live stream on their mobile phones, many of them crying.
The public was invited inside to pay their respects shortly after 6pm, and more than 1,400 tickets were handed out.
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The Post spoke with fans from Taiwan, Malaysia and mainland China, who said they had travelled from Sichuan, Chongqing, Beijing, Shanghai and the far western region of Xinjiang.
Dora Yuan, 35, an organiser of one of Lee’s fan groups from Shanghai, said: “We came early to show the media just how many fans she has.”
El Cai Weiyou, who works in human resources in Changsha, Hunan province, came to Hong Kong with her five-year-old son three days ago to attend the service.
“Coco is like my family and a role model to society,” she said. “She was such a good person, I started listening to her music when I was 11 years old. Her music really inspired me … Her life was too short.”
According to Lee’s family, the pop star died on July 5 after attempting suicide at her home on July 2. They said she had been diagnosed with depression a few years ago, but her condition had drastically deteriorated over the past few months.
Born in Hong Kong in 1975 and raised in San Francisco from the age of nine, Lee was the youngest of three sisters. Although said to be a shy child, she said she had always dreamed of performing.
She embarked on her career at age 18 after returning to the city in 1993 to take part in TVB’s New Talent Singing Awards, claiming the first runner-up spot for her performance of Whitney Houston’s “Run to You”, which opened the door to her first recording contract.
Lee performed “A Love Before Time” from Ang Lee’s 2000 award-winning film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon at the Oscars, becoming the first Chinese singer to be signed by Sony Music globally and the first – and only – artist of her nationality to perform at the annual awards.
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A private funeral service will be held for the late pop diva at the same funeral home on Tuesday morning, with her body later taken for cremation at the Cape Collinson Crematorium in Chai Wan.
