at17, consisting of

Eman Lam Eman Lam Yee-man (born 25 October 1982) is a Hong Kong singer and songwriter. Lam and Ellen Joyce Loo were part of the vocal duo at17. In contrast with Ellen Joyce Loo (who had been writing songs which incline more toward Cantopop), Lam's song ...

and

Ellen Joyce Loo Ellen Joyce Loo Hoi Tung (; 27 March 1986 – 5 August 2018) was a Canadian-Hong Kong musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. She was the guitarist, backing vocalist and a co-founder of the folk-pop rock group at17. Early life Loo was ...

, were a Hong Kong–based

folktronica Folktronica is a genre of music comprising various elements of folk music and electronica, often featuring uses of acoustic instruments – especially stringed instruments – and incorporating hip hop, electronic or dance rhythms, although ...

and

Cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") or HK-pop (short for "Hong Kong pop music") is a genre of pop music written in standard Chinese and sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production ...

all-female band An all-female band is a musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universally followed. While ...

managed by People Mountain People Sea.

Biography

Loo and Lam first met each other at a singing competition held by Tom Lee Music Hong Kong – "Original Music 2000" (原音2000), in which Loo won the 3rd Prize and Lam won the 2nd. They were among the youngest participants. After the competition, they started performing at university campuses and other tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. In 2001, they were discovered by Anthony Wong Yiu-ming, the chairman of the music production company People Mountain People Sea and a renowned singer-songwriter during the 90's. Lam and Loo were then signed by the company on 1 January 2002, and the group was named at17. The duo was invited to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and performed as part of the Hong Kong Festival in 2005. From April 2006 to March 2007, they were appointed MCs for

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and TVB ...

's popular weekly music show

Jade Solid Gold Jade Solid Gold (Chinese: 勁歌金曲, literally ''"powerful song golden melody"'') is a music show on the TVB Jade television channel in Hong Kong. It has been running since October 10, 1981. Broadcasting time TVB Jade *Sunday at 11:00pm to 11: ...

and frequently performed live in the show. Their first mega concert ''Sing Sing Sing 2006'' took place at

AsiaWorld–Expo The AsiaWorld–Expo is one of the two major convention and exhibition facilities in Hong Kong along with Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. It was opened on 21 December 2005 by Donald Tsang, the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong, a ...

on 30 September 2006. Subsequently, they held a series of mini live shows called ''Just the two of us'' at Shouson Theatre,

Hong Kong Arts Centre Hong Kong Arts Centre (HKAC; ) is a non-profit arts institution and art museum established in 1977. It promotes contemporary performing arts, visual arts, film and video arts. It also provides arts education. Its rival is the government-managed ...

from 1 March 2007 to 1 May 2007, where they performed the songs of other artists. Both Loo and Lam were involved considerably in the songwriting and production for their albums. Loo played the guitar and piano, and Lam plays the guitar and various percussion instruments. Their style may be best described as

. The group disbanded in 2010, as Loo pursued a solo career. Loo died after falling from her apartment building in

Happy Valley, Hong Kong Happy Valley () is an upper-income residential area in Hong Kong, located on Hong Kong Island. The area is bordered by Caroline Hill to the east, Jardine's Lookout to the south, Morrison Hill to the west, and Causeway Bay to the north. Administ ...

on 5 August 2018, at the age of 32.

About the name

The group name at17 was derived from the song "

At Seventeen "At Seventeen" is a song by American singer-songwriter Janis Ian from her seventh studio album ''Between the Lines''. Columbia released it in July 1975 as the album's second single. Ian wrote the lyrics on the basis of a ''The New York Times'' ...

", a bittersweet commentary on adolescent cruelty and teenage angst, sung by one of Lam's favourite singers

Janis Ian Janis Ian (born Janis Eddy Fink; April 7, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter who was most commercially successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her signature songs are the 1966/67 hit " Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" and the 1975 Top T ...

. Inspired by the song, a lot of at17's songs express teenage girls' sentiments, but in a slightly optimistic way. The style of their songs has shown some influences from Janis Ian as well.

Discography

Albums

* '' Meow Meow Meow'' (19 December 2002)Article
from at17's official website that states the correct release date of their first album. * '' KissKissKiss'' (24 December 2003) * ''903 California Red: Eleven Fires Concert'' (10 September 2004) * '' Twins x at17 Live in Music (23 September 2005) * '' Bian Bian Bian'' (28 November 2005) * '' Sing Sing Sing E.P.'' (30 September 2006) * '' Sing Sing Sing Live in Concert 2006'' (7 December 2006) * ''Threesome + at17 (2002–2007 New + Best Collection)'' (20 March 2007) * ''Over The Rainbow'' (15 July 2008) * ''Over The Rainbow Vol.2'' (24 October 2008) * ''Over The Rainbow Vol.3'' (17 April 2009) * ''Over The Rainbow Vol.4'' (15 September 2009) * ''Just the two of us... until we meet again live'' (2 July 2010)

DVDs

* ''903 California Red: Eleven Fires Concert'' (10 September 2004) * '' Twins x at17 Live in Music'' (23 September 2005) * ''Sing Sing Sing Live in Concert 2006'' (Dec 2006)

Publications

* ''I learned the chords at seventeen'', collection of 22 originals guitar scores from ''at17s songs, transcribed by

in both standard notation and guitar

tablature Tablature (or tabulature, or tab for short) is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches. Tablature is common for fretted stringed instruments such as the guitar, lute or vihuela, as well as many fr ...

. 2005, published by People Mountain People Sea / Kubrick, Hong Kong, * ''Do I have problem or not ? (我有冇問題?)'', proses collection in Chinese language, written by ''at17'', 2005, published by Youth Culture (青春文化), Hong Kong, .

References

External links

''at17s official website (in Chinese) People Mountain People Sea official website (in Chinese)Eman Lam's blog at Yahoo Hong Kong (in Chinese with some sections in English)Ellen Loo's blog at Yahool Hong Kong (in English & Chinese
) {{Authority control Cantopop musical groups Cantonese-language singers Musical groups established in 2002 Musical groups disestablished in 2010 All-female bands Folktronica musicians LGBT-themed musical groups 2002 establishments in Hong Kong 2010 disestablishments in Hong Kong Female musical duos