Singer Ellen Loo holds concert to celebrate multifaceted career
She won fame as Eason Chan's guitarist, but now Ellen Loo is carving out a successful career of her own, writes Vanessa Yung
ELLEN LOO HOI-TUNG didn't win the award for best female singer at last month's Taiwanese Golden Melody Awards, where she was nominated alongside Taiwanese diva Jolin Tsai Yi-lin and fellow Hongkonger Sandy Lam Yik-lin. But she doesn't sound too disappointed.
For this talented singer-songwriter, success has never been about beating her peers, but more about personal growth. And her upcoming shows at Queen Elizabeth Stadium titled "Ellen & The Ripples Band V Live" will celebrate her achievements during the past three years.
"The 'V' can stand for a lot of things - such as vanity, valour - and I've chosen victory to be the theme of the concerts. These will be the first big concerts I've held since going solo [after leaving Cantonese folk duo at17]," says the 27-year-old.
"And as trivial as it may seem to some, the word also symbolises the courage I found during my endeavours in Taiwan and on the mainland. Courage was when I didn't feel ashamed to sing under the sun for 45 minutes in a campus playground in Taiwan. Courage was also when I was in Wuhan and there were only 50 people watching me. I wasn't afraid and didn't feel I was worthless. That's because I'm confident about myself and know my own value."
This value was first spotted by music industry veteran Anthony Wong Yiu-ming when Loo was 15. He signed Loo and Eman Lam Yee-man, whom she met in a singing contest, resulting in the formation of at17 in 2002.
In the following years, their energetic and youthful tunes featured on albums such as Meow Meow Meow and Kiss Kiss Kiss became sources of inspiration for many post-1980s fans.