Chinese-American singer Coco Lee 'secretly' battled breast cancer before her death

Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of suicide and depression.

Chinese-American singer Coco Lee battled breast cancer before her death early this month.

South China Morning Post reported that her sister Nancy made the revelation, adding that Lee had her tumor removed via surgery last year.

Lee's friend and fellow musician Jae Chong also recalled the singer's secret battle with the disease in an Instagram post. "I remember when she told me about her illness [a] few months ago. I sat in my car crying nonstop," he began.

"She was suffering from so many different things including secretly battling cancer. She was a true fighter. She didn’t want her fans and family to worry. I pray that she is in heaven where there is no more pain," he added.

Lee's sisters, Nancy and Carol, confirmed her death on social media on Wednesday, July 5, saying that she committed suicide after a battle with depression that lasted for years. 

"On 2 July, she committed suicide at home and was sent to the hospital. Despite the best efforts of the hospital team to rescue and treat her from her coma, she finally passed away on 5 July, 2023,” they wrote in a statement.

She was 48.

While she joined the music industry in Hong Kong in the 1990s, Lee, later on, dominated the US charts after the release of her English-language album. She is best known for her hit songs like Before I Fall in Love (1999), Do You Want My Love (1999), and A Love Before Time (2000), among many others.