Lee confirms status as new pop-R&B diva
By Joko E.H. Anwar
JAKARTA (JP): Unlike many Latin American stars, very few Asian singers have successfully penetrated the international market, particularly in the United States. Indonesian singer Anggun Cipta Sasmi, for example, has not been heard from after her international release of Snow on the Sahara in 1998.
But this has not applied to Coco Lee, a 25-year-old pop-R&B diva who was born in Hong Kong but raised in San Francisco. Her latest album, Just No Other Way, has been well-received by audiences in many countries, including the United States.
In Indonesia, the rising star already has many fans as was witnessed when she performed at the Hard Rock Cafe on Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta, on Wednesday. Hundreds of fans, mostly teenagers, jammed the cafe to see their idol sing three songs from the album, Do You Want My Love, Before I Fall in Love and Wherever You Go.
Dissatisfied with the star's brief performance, many fans insisted on finding out where she was staying so they might see her.
"Do you know where Coco Lee is spending the night?" one 14- year-old female fan asked reporters.
"Come on and tell us, we just want to give her this flower," said another.
The singer came to the capital as part of a promotional tour for her album after visiting Beijing, where she accepted the Best International Female Artist Award from China's CCTV and MTV.
Raised in a music-loving family -- her two older sisters are frequent winners at many singing competitions -- Lee dreamed of becoming a professional singer.
She spent much of her spare time singing songs from big pop stars such as Mariah Carey, Madonna, Debbie Gibson, George Michael and Whitney Houston, and soon followed in her sister's steps by entering singing contests.
When she visited Hong Kong during a vacation shortly after she finished high school, she entered a singing contest where she won second place after performing her rendition of Whitney Houston's Run to You.
The next day, a local record company offered her a record deal, which she immediately signed.
Since her debut in 1994, Lee has made 12 albums in Mandarin and English, eight of which were released through Sony Music.
The albums went like hot cakes in Asia, particularly in Chinese-speaking countries, reaching a total of 7,000,000 copies sold.
In 1999 she signed a record deal with 550 Music in the United States and in October of that year she released her international debut album Just No Other Way.
Lee also shined when she contributed the song Before I Fall in Love from the album for the movie Runaway Bride starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts.
In the Chinese version of Disney's animated film Mulan, she provided the voice for the title character opposite Jackie Chan and sang the theme song.
Recently, the star sang the theme song A Love Before Time for the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which was directed by noted Taiwanese director Ang Lee, who received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Sense and Sensibility in 1996.
Although highly praised by audiences, the album Just No Other Way failed to impress critics.
Rolling Stone magazine, in its 837th edition wrote, "All she (Coco Lee) has are a hundred borrowed vocal mannerisms and a bunch of tunes made with cookie cutters that are blunt from overuse."
However, Lee has never been pretentious to defy the sources of her singing style.
"I wanted to bring an R&B flavor and other westernized sounds to my music, because that's the type of music I grew up listening to," the star said on her official website.
Lee, who is being called the "Mariah Carey of Taiwan", may not have the explosive magnetism of the sensational Britney Spears or Christina Aguillera, but she is a star in the first magnitude if she can develop her original style.
About her Asian fans she once said, as quoted by the website, "People like my voice so much, it was so different (from other Asian singers)."
Well, if we give her a little time, she will probably be able to say that about her international audience.