Coco Lee
Coco Lee (Chinese: 李玟; pinyin: Lǐ wén; born Ferren Lee, 17 January 1975)[3] is a Hong Kong-born American singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actress.[4][5] Lee's career began in Hong Kong and then expanded to Taiwan.[4][5] Her single, "Do You Want My Love" also entered the US music charts. Her first full-length English language album was Just No Other Way. As a Chinese American, Lee is the first and only person of Chinese ethnicity to perform at the Oscars; she performed the Best Original Song nominated, "A Love Before Time" from the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Coco Lee | |||||||||||
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李玟 | |||||||||||
Lee in 2013 | |||||||||||
Born | 17 January 1975 | ||||||||||
Alma mater | Presidio Middle School Raoul Wallenberg Traditional High School University of California, Irvine | ||||||||||
Occupation | singer, songwriter, actress, dancer | ||||||||||
Years active | 1993–present | ||||||||||
Spouse(s) | |||||||||||
Awards | Awards 1994 Top 10 Most Popular Idol Best New Artist 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 Yale and Harvard Universities 2000 Asian-American of the year Best Performer of the year Awards in Hong Kong 2001 Best Mandarin Female Artist Top 10 Artist of the Year International Golden Melody Awards Malaysia 2001 Most Popular Stage Showmanship Female M'sia Awards 2002 best song 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 Performer[1] Lycra Style Awards 2004 Asian Style Artist[2] 10 Best dressed of 2004 Changchun festival 2004 Best new talent (Master of everything) 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 Awards 2010 China's Top 10 Barbie Dream Girls | ||||||||||
Musical career | |||||||||||
Origin | British Hong Kong | ||||||||||
Genres | Pop, C-pop, dance-pop, hip hop, R&B, soul | ||||||||||
Labels | Capital Artists Fancy Pie Sony Music Entertainment 550 Music Epic Sony BMG Warner Music Group Universal Music Group | ||||||||||
Chinese name | |||||||||||
Chinese | 李玟 | ||||||||||
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Ferren Lee | |||||||||||
Chinese | 李美琳 | ||||||||||
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Early life
Born in Hong Kong, Lee is the youngest of three children and was born to a Indonesian Chinese father and a Hongkongese Cantonese mother.[6] She has two elder sisters, Nancy, who was her manager before, and Carol. Her father died before she was born. When she was 9 years old, her mother brought Lee and her sisters to live in San Francisco. She attended Presidio Middle School and Raoul Wallenberg Traditional High School, both in San Francisco. The summer after graduating from high school, she was offered a recording contract in Hong Kong and attempted to juggle her burgeoning career there with her studies at the University of California, Irvine[7] but eventually left after her freshman year to concentrate on her pop career.[8]
Career
Career beginnings and Sony Music: 1992–1998
After Lee graduated from high school in 1992, she returned to Hong Kong to see her sisters participate in the Miss Hong Kong Pageant. While there, she took part in the 12th Annual New Talent Singing Awards and was the first runner-up, singing Whitney Houston's Run to you. The following day, Capital Artists offered her a recording contract. She made her debut by appearing in several compilation albums, such as Red Hot Hits '93 Autumn Edition (火熱動感93勁秋版). In 1994, working with Fancy Pie Records, she released her first solo albums in Mandarin, Love from Now On (愛就要趁現在) and Promise Me (答應我). In 1995, she released an English language cover album, Brave Enough to Love, as well as her third Mandarin album, Woman in Love (被愛的女人). In 1996, Lee signed a contract with Sony Music Entertainment and her subsequent album, "Coco Lee" became the best-selling album of 1996 in Asia. In 1997, she released the Mandarin album "Sincere" as well as a self-titled Cantonese album. In 1998, the Mandarin album Di Da Di was released and sold to 1 million copies in less than 3 months.
International collaborations and English debut: 1998–2005
From her next album Sunny day, "Colors of the World" was used for the opening of the Football World Cup, and the song The answer (答案) for the Chinese movie Bishonen. Walt Disney Pictures hired her to sing the theme song "Reflection" (自己) and be the voice of the heroine Fa Mulan in the Mandarin version of Mulan. On August 1998, Coco performed in Taiwan to a concert audience of more than 30,000 fans, the second largest concert audience in Taiwan (a feat that only Michael Jackson has claimed in the past). She also performed in Michael Jackson's "Michael Jackson and friends" charity concert. In 1999, under 550 Music, Lee made her debut Just No Other Way which included the smashing hit, Do You Want My Love. 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 recorded the charity singles "We meet the future" and "Hand in hand" for SARS with other artists including Wang Leehom, Stefanie Sun, Elva Hsiao, and Jolin Tsai. Back in Asia, she released a Mandarin album You & me. By 2000 she had released 20 albums in Asia and had sold 7.5 million copies of her albums in that continent.[9] In 2001, Lee sang the song A Love Before Time for the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Her album, Promise Coco released in October 2001. In 2002, Lee released her remix album D. Is Coco (Dance is Coco). She sang a song against tobacco called From the beginning til' the end (煙絲萬縷) with singer Jacky Cheung. She sang the anti racism song A dream of one with Korean singer Jin Young Park. In 2003, she performed with Shaggy at the "MTV Asia awards" in Singapore and also presented the show with him. Lee co-starred in the Chinese comedy movie Master of Everything (自娱自乐) with John Lone, which won the Best Foreign Film award in the 2005 Beverly Hills Film Festival. In 2004, as the Youth AIDS ambassador, she attended the global AIDS conference in Bangkok, Thailand as the representative of the Asian artists to meet various youth groups discussing what she can do to educate them about AIDS.
Second English album and Warner Music: 2005–2011
In 2005, Sony BMG released her second English album, Exposed. The album was banned in Mainland China for sexy lyrics in a few songs such as Touch or So good. Lee's next Mandarin album, Just Want You (要定你) was released on 22 September 2006. In 2008, Lee was chosen to sing one of the Olympic songs, "Forever Friends", opposite Sun Nan.[10] She changed her record company to work with Warner Music Group (Taiwan) from Music Nation. On 14 August, she released her new Mandarin album East to west (CoCo的東西) with Warner Music Group. It contains the songs "Party time", "Turn" (流轉) which is the soundtrack of the movie "The Legend of Silkboy" (世博总动员-湖丝仔) for the Shanghai World Expo 2010 and "BYOB" ("Bring Your Own Bag") a song to encourage people to bring and recycle their own shopping bags to save the environment. She recorded the song "Smile Shanghai" (微笑上海) with other artists including JJ Lin, Andy Lau, Jam Hsiao or Jane Zhang for Shanghai World Expo 2010. On 27 March 2010, Lee began her "East2West" World Tour Concert in Taipei at Taipei Arena. She performed at the Encore Theatre in Wynn Casino in Las Vegas on 3 and 4 July, then in Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore on 2 October[11] and in Nanning on 16 December. In March 2011, Lee was one of many artists participating in the recording of "Artists 311 Love Beyond Borders" (愛心無國界311燭光晚會) official theme song called Succumb not to sorrow (不要輸給心痛) in Cantonese version. On 7 April 2011, her song Dreams on oriental seas (梦在东方的海上) featuring Sun Nan was broadcast. It was named as the theme for the 14th FINA world championships, that took place in Shanghai on 16 July 2011.[12][13]
New album: 2011–present
On 8 June 2011, Lee announced that she set up her own studio. On 25 June, her song Four seas alliance (四海盟約), the theme song for the 2011 China television drama All men are brothers (水滸傳), was broadcast. On 17 December 2011, she performed at "Booey Lehoo Concert" in Beijing with will.i.am and apl.de.ap from The Black Eyed Peas, John Legend and Shunza. On 9 February 2012, she performed at "I AM WILL / I AM ANGEL Benefit Concert" at Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles with will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo from The Black Eyed Peas.[14]
Her new album Illuminate (盛開) was released on 31 May 2013 with Universal Music.
In 2016, she competed in the fourth season of the Chinese reality show I Am A Singer, but she admitted she faded out as a singer since 2014 due to bronchitis. However, she recovered from it and participate, and eventually gone on to win the competition, making her the first non-mainland Chinese singer to win the series.[15][16] Lee later returned as guest singers for two more seasons (whicn now rebranded with the new title Singer), on the fifth season during the biennial concert, and on the sixth season as with a guest performer for Jessie J, the eventual winner for that season.[17]
Personal life
Lee married Bruce Rockowitz (born 24 October 1958),[18] a Jewish-Canadian businessman and former CEO of Li & Fung on 27 October 2011 in a lavish Jewish wedding ceremony in Hong Kong.[19][20] For her wedding, she registered the song "I just wanna marry u" (Chinese and English version), which was released on 24 October 2011. In 2016, she revealed that she has two adult step-daughters from her husband's previous marriage.[21]
Discography
Studio Albums
Title | Released Date | Label | Language | Track Listing |
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Love From Now On (愛就要趁現在) | 15 June 1994 | Fancy Pie Records | Mandarin |
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Promise Me (答應我) | 23 December 1994 |
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Brave Enough to Love (勇敢去愛) | 12 June 1995 | English |
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Woman in Love (被愛的女人) | 3 September 1995 | Mandarin |
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CoCo Lee (CoCo李玟同名专辑) | 14 June 1996 | Sony Music Taiwan |
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CoCo's Party | 25 November 1996 | English |
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Everytime I Think Of You (每一次想你) | 14 May 1997 | Mandarin/Cantonese |
Special Edition :
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Be Careful Next Time (CoCo Lee首張廣東專輯) | 10 November 1997 | Cantonese |
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Di Da Di Hints (DiDaDi暗示) | 13 January 1998 | Mandarin |
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Sunny Day | 30 June 1998 |
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From Today Until Forever (今天到永遠) | 27 May 1999 |
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Just No Other Way | 2 November 1999 | 550 Music/Epic Records | English |
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True Lover You & Me (真情人You & Me) | 24 August 2000 | Sony Music Taiwan | Mandarin |
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Promise CoCo | 12 October 2001 | Mandarin/Cantonese |
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Exposed | 25 March 2005 | Sony BMG | English | |
Just Want You (要定你) | 22 September 2006 | Sony Music Taiwan | Mandarin |
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East To West (CoCo的東西) | 14 August 2009 | Warner Music Taiwan/Music Nation Ursa Major Limited |
2010 Limited edition (2010 美夢限定版) :
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Illuminate (盛開) | 31 May 2013 | Universal Music Taiwan/CL Production | Mandarin/English |
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Live Albums
Title | Released Date | Label | Language | Track Listing |
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You Are In My Heart Concert (你在我心上演唱会全纪录) | December 1995 | Fancy Pie Records | Mandarin/English/French/Spanish |
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Million Fans Concert (萬人迷演唱会精彩实录) | 17 December 1998 | Sony Music Taiwan | Mandarin/English/Cantonese/Spanish | CD 1
CD 2
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Compilation Albums
Title | Released Date | Label | Language | Track Listing |
---|---|---|---|---|
Beloved Collection (情人被愛精选集) | 2 August 1996 | Fancy Pie Records | Mandarin | CD 1
CD 2
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The Best of My Love | 28 January 2000 | Sony Music Taiwan | Mandarin/Cantonese | CD 1
CD 2
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1994–2008 Best Collection | 16 May 2008 | Mandarin/English | CD 1
CD 2
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Ultimate Coco (最完美影音典藏精选) | 2 March 2012 | Mandarin |
CD 2
DVD
Bonus :
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「You & I」25th Anniversary Collection (You & I 经典全纪录) | 21 June 2019 | Sony Music Taiwan/CL Production | CD 1
CD 2
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Remix Albums
Title | Released Date | Label | Language | Track Listing |
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Dance With The Wind (玟風起舞) | May 1997 | Fancy Pie Records | Mandarin/English |
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D.IS. CoCo (愛琴海新歌 + 電音精選) | 18 June 2002 | Sony Music Taiwan | Mandarin/Cantonese |
CD 2
BONUS
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Extended Plays
Title | Released Date | Label | Language | Track Listing |
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Take A Chance On Love (碰碰看愛情) | 14 August 1998 | Sony Music Taiwan | Mandarin/English |
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Maxi Singles
Title | Released Date | Label | Language | Track Listing |
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Di da di Color Remix (5顔6色 Di Da Di) | 2 April 1998 | Sony Music Taiwan | Mandarin |
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Do You Want My Love | 7 February 2000 | 550 Music/Epic Records | English |
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Wherever You Go | 21 September 2000 |
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Digital Singles
Title | Released Date | Label | Language | Track Listing |
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I Have A Dream | 1 May 2008 | Music Nation Ursa Major Ltd. | Mandarin |
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I Love Watching Movies (我愛看電影) | 18 September 2008 |
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BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) | 17 April 2009 |
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Four Seas (四海) | 27 December 2010 | Universal Music Taiwan/CL Production |
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I Just Wanna Marry U | 24 October 2011 | Mandarin/English |
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18 | 17 January 2017 | Mandarin |
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Various Artists Compilation Albums
Title | Released Date | Label | Language | Track Listing |
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Red Hot Hits 93' Autumn Edition (火熱動感93'勁秋版) | October 1993 | Capital Artists/Fancy Pie Records | Cantonese | |
Red Hot Hits 94' Love Party (火熱動感94'戀愛Party) | September 1994 | |||
Statement Of Love, Duet Songs (愛情宣言, 情歌對唱) | November 1994 | |||
Merry Christmas (聖誕禮讚) | December 1994 | |||
Videography
Title | Released Date | Label | Language | Track Listing |
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Foot print | 1995 | Fancy Pie Records | Mandarin/English | |
You're In My Heart Concert | 1995 | Mandarin/English/French/Spanish | ||
Coco's Workout Camp | 1996 | Sony Music Taiwan | Mandarin/English | |
CoCo In Italy | 1998 | |||
Di Da Di | Mandarin | |||
Sunny Day | ||||
Million Fans Concert | 1999 | Mandarin/English/Cantonese/Spanish | ||
The Video Collection | 2000 | Mandarin/English/Cantonese | ||
CoCo So Crazy | 2002 | Mandarin/Cantonese | ||
All my Coco | Mandarin/Cantonese/English | |||
Filmography
Film
Title | Year | Director | Role | Notes |
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No Tobacco (无烟草) | 2002 | Stanley Kwan | ||
Master Of Everything (自娱自乐) | 2004 | Lee Xin | Lu Hua | |
Forever Young (栀子花开) | 2015 | He Jiong | Teacher Han | Cameo |
Television
Title | Year | Original Network | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Chinese Idol (Season 1) (中国梦之声第一季) | 19 May — 25 August 2013 | DragonTV | Judge | 16 episodes |
Hi 2014 (嗨!2014) | 9 May 2014 | CCTV 1 | Guest | No.5 episode |
Dancing With the Stars China (与星共舞) | 1 February 2015 | DragonTV | Judge | No.7 episode |
Super Idol (Season 1) (星动亚洲第一季) | 17 July 2015 | Anhui TV/MBC TV | Judge/Coach | No.2, 5, 9 episodes |
7 August 2015 | ||||
11 September 2015 | ||||
Talented Singer(Season 1) (隐藏的歌手第一季) | 25 October 2015 | City TV/BTV/iQIYI | Guest performance | No.2 episode |
I Am a Singer (Chinese season 4) (我是歌手第四季) | 15 January – 15 April 2016 | Hunan TV | Contestant/Winner | 13 episodes |
Come Sing with Me(season 1) (我想和你唱第一季) | 7 May 2016 | Hunan TV | Guest performance | No.1 episode |
The Jin Xing Show(金星秀) | 26 April 2017 | DragonTV | Guest | No.114 episode |
Come Sing with Me(season 2) (我想和你唱第二季) | 8 June 2017 | Hunan TV | Guest performance | No.8 episode |
Sing Out!(这!就是歌唱 对唱季) | 21 September 2018 | Youku | Advisor | No.9 episode |
World's Got Talent (巅峰之夜) | 19 April — 12 July 2019 | Hunan TV | Judge | 13 episodes |
Jungle Voice (Season 2) (声林之王第二季) | 27 September 2019 | ETtoday | Advisor | No.6, 7 episodes |
4 October 2019 | ||||
Concert Tours
Tours
Date | Country/Region | City | Venue | Guest | Setlist |
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Million Fans Tour | |||||
2 August 1998 | Taiwan | Taipei | Municipal Stadium | Human Nature |
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15 August 1998 | Kaohsiung City | Chung Shan Stadium | None | ||
True Lover You & Me Asia Tour | |||||
17 September 2000 | China | Shenzhen | Shenzhen Gymnasium | None | |
25 September 2000 | Wuhan | Xinhualu Stadium | |||
29 September 2000 | Shanghai | Shanghai Stadium | |||
15 December 2000 | Singapore | Singapore | Suntec City Concert Hall | ||
19 September 2001 | China | Chengdu | Chengdu Sports Center | ||
23 September 2001 | Jinan | Shandong Provincial Sports Centre Stadium | |||
27 September 2001 | Hangzhou | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | |||
29 September 2001 | Nanjing | Nanjing Wutaishan Jinbang Gymnasium | |||
So Crazy China Tour | |||||
6 October 2003 | China | Beijing | Workers' Stadium | None | |
31 October 2003 | Chongqing | Banan Stadium | |||
East to West World Tour | |||||
27 March 2010 | Taiwan | Taipei | Taipei Arena | None | |
3 July 2010 | United States | Las Vegas | Encore Las Vegas | ||
4 July 2010 | |||||
2 October 2010 | Singapore | Singapore | Singapore Indoor Stadium | ||
16 December 2010 | China | Nanning | Guangxi Stadium | ||
CoCo Lee 18 World Tour | |||||
6 May 2017 | China | Shenzhen | Shenzhen Bay Sports Center | Jam Hsiao |
Encore:
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24 June 2017 | Shanghai | Mercedes-Benz Arena | G.E.M. |
Encore:
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8 July 2017 | Beijing | LeSports Center | JJ Lin |
Encore:
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22 July 2017 | Guangzhou | Guangzhou Gymnasium | None | ||
12 August 2017 | Xi'an | QuJiang International Conference Exhibition Center | Jason Zhang | ||
9 September 2017 | Wuhan | Wuhan Sports Centre Stadium | Stefanie Sun | ||
23 September 2017 | Hangzhou | Yellow Dragon Sports Center | Dimash Kudaibergen | ||
18 November 2017 | Nanjing | Wutaishan Sports Center | Yoga Lin | ||
9 December 2017 | Changsha | Hunan International Convention & Exhibition Center | MC Jin | ||
24 March 2018 | Chongqing | Chongqing International Expo Center Multi-Purpose Hall | None | ||
「You & I」25 Anniversary World Tour | |||||
21 June 2019 | Taiwan | Taipei | Taipei Arena | Jolin Tsai |
Encore:
|
27 July 2019 | China | Chengdu | Sichuan Provincial Gymnasium | None |
Encore:
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17 August 2019 | Foshan | Foshan International Sports Cultural Performing Center |
Encore:
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26 October 2019 | Macau | Macao | Cotai Arena | ||
14 December 2019 | China | Nanjing | Nanjing Youth Olympic Games Sports Park | TBC | |
22 December 2019 | United States | Uncasville | Mohegan Sun Arena | ||
28 December 2019 | Las Vegas | MGM Grand Garden Arena | |||
28 March 2020 | China | Shenzhen | Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre | ||
11 April 2020 | Fuzhou | Haixia Olympic Sports Center | |||
9 May 2020 | Beijing | TBC | |||
2020 | Nanning | ||||
Changsha | |||||
Guiyang | |||||
Xi'an | |||||
Yinchuan | |||||
Guangzhou | |||||
Dongguan | |||||
Shanghai | |||||
Kunming | |||||
Hong Kong | Hongkong | ||||
Singapore | Singapore | ||||
Malaysia | Malaysia | ||||
Taiwan | Kaohsiung City | ||||
Taipei | |||||
References
- "MTV Style Awards China 2003 Winners". CoCo Lee. 29 November 2003. Archived from the original on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2008.
- "Lycra Style Awards". CRI Online. 27 November 2004. Retrieved 7 March 2008.
- 軻貴妃 (21 June 2009). "為 Coco者". 副刊 (in Chinese). Apple Daily. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
(Coco──原本叫李美琳的李玟)
- 邱國強 (9 April 2016). "我是歌手4總決賽 李玟奪冠" (in Chinese). Beijing: CNA. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
- 馮昭 (8 April 2016). "我是歌手4 首次非大陸歌手奪冠" (in Chinese). Shanghai: CNA. Archived from the original on 12 April 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
- "驚揭神秘家世·李玟原屬大馬籍". Sina (in Chinese). 11 December 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
- "Coco Lee Hits the Ground Running". Los Angeles Times. 17 February 2000.
- Yung, Vanessa (26 September 2013). "Loco for Coco: Singer reveals the rocker inside". South China Morning Post.
- Coco Lee hits the ground running
- "Sun Nan and Coco Lee film 'Forever Friends' music video". The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. 30 November 2007. Archived from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
- "CoCo Lee East2West World Tour Live in Singapore 2010". Singapore Indoor Stadium. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012.
- "The theme song for the 14th FINA world championship". FINA World Championships Shanghai 2011 Organising Committee.
- "14th FINA World Championships – Shanghai 2011". FINA. 1 August 2011. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
- "Backbeat: Stevie Wonder Brings the House Down @ Will.I.Am's Grammy Charity Concert". BillboardBiz. 10 February 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
- "《我是歌手4》李玟夺歌王 结束后李玟想吃冰淇淋(图)". Archived from the original on 11 April 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
- "CoCo Lee wins I Am A Singer 4, Joey Yung is booted off amid cries of ballot rigging". Retrieved 10 April 2016.
- "Jessie J wins China's equivalent of The X Factor". The Telegraph. 17 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
- Rockowitz parties in style
- "CoCo Lee weds wealthy Canadian fiance, throws glitzy wedding bash". Channel NewsAsia. 31 October 2011. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 21 February 2012.
- Yun, Tan Kee (31 October 2011). "Coco, you deserve only the best". The New Paper. Singapore. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
- MGTV Music Channel (23 February 2016). "我是歌手第4季抢鲜版 — 李玟金发碧眼俩女儿曝光 I AM A SINGER 4 【我是歌手官方频道】". Retrieved 14 July 2020 – via Youtube.
Preceded by Han Hong |
Winner of I Am a Singer Season 4 2016 |
Succeeded by Sandy Lam |