Ellen Joyce Loo, a star of the music scene in Hong Kong and Taiwan, died Sunday after falling from a high building. She was 32.
Loo’s body was found on Sunday morning at the foot of her home in Happy Valley, on Hong Kong Island. Police say they are not treating her death as suspicious.
No suicide note has been found. But Loo’s social media site pointed to her plans late last week to do “something great.” She suffered from bipolar disorder, which was diagnosed in 2013.
The Canadian-born singer-songwriter had worked in the Hong Kong and Taiwan music industries since she was 17. She worked in the electro-folk, Cantopop and rock registers.
With Eman Lam, Loo was part of the band at17. At17 endured until 2010, at which point Loo began a solo career, moved to Taiwan, and switched from singing in Cantonese to Mandarin.
In Taiwan, she won prizes for her songwriting and in 2017 used an acceptance speech to reveal that she was lesbian and partner of cinematographer Fisher Yu. Their marriage was registered in Canada in 2016. In interviews, Loo said that owning up to and combating her mental illness was more difficult than coming out as gay.
“Over the past few years, she had been fighting a very tough battle in the face of the disturbances caused by mental illness and bipolar disorder. We have always been on her side, hoping to offer her support and power,” said a statement posted on Loo’s Facebook page by People Mountain People Sea, the music production house which signed Loo as a teenager.
