Hong Kong Canto-pop duo at17 talk about finding fame as teens, breaking up and why they’re getting back on stage together

Eman Lam and Ellen Loo found fame in the early 2000s, but split after almost a decade in the spotlight. Now the musicians, who have been focusing on solo careers, are back together again, older, wiser and on a creative high

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At17’s Eman Lam (left) and Ellen Loo (right) in 2002.

Published: 6:01pm, 9 Dec 2017Updated: 6:39pm, 10 Dec 2017

Some people have to grow apart to find their way back together – and this is true for Canto-pop duo at17. In the 15 years since the pair launched their music career, Eman Lam and Ellen Loo have experienced ups and downs, and gone their separate ways, but now they are ready to walk down the same road together again.

“After all these years, we are now at the best place for each other,” says Loo. “We have seen various highs and lows. Our personalities did not always match. We had our fights. We have made some great records that sold a lot of copies, and we went our separate ways. But now we feel that our creative spark is at its peak. We have found a very comfortable way to stay together.”

Loo and Lam are keeping themselves busy preparing for “Girls Girls Girls Live in Concert” – their first stage show in seven years. “This will be the reunion of two grown-up women,” Loo says of the shows that run from December 22 to 24 at Queen Elizabeth Stadium.

Loo (left) and Lam will perform at Queen Elizabeth Stadium in December.

The show will not only reunite at17, but also the People Mountain People Sea music ensemble, including composer and producer Jason Choi and keyboard player Veronica Lee. Concert producer Ida Wong will lead a team of stage designers and stylists to present a mature version of the duo and “the memories of two not typically pretty girls”, as Loo puts it.

At17 were never a typical Canto-pop act. Loo and Lam met as teenagers in the early 2000s at a singing contest, in which Loo came third and Lam came second. The two then began performing together and were discovered by Anthony Wong Yiu-ming of Tat Ming Pair.