This is the 82nd instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades.Eight years after her sudden death shook music fans across Hong Kong, Taiwan and beyond, Ellen Joyce Loo Hoi-tung’s legacy as a cultural trailblazer continues to grow.Shifting effortlessly between vulnerable lyricism and distorted power chords, the fierce guitarist lived boldly in an industry demanding conformity. An outspoken advocate for mental health and LGBTQ visibility, she used her craft as a lifeline.“When I feel depressed, I write songs. It has become my soul-healing process,” she told HK Magazine in 2011, two years before being diagnosed with type 2 bipolar disorder.Born in Toronto in 1986, Loo moved to Hong Kong at age four. Raised on her father’s musical diet of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, she found his guitar at age nine and “forced” him to teach her.Ellen Loo (right) performs with her at17 bandmate Eman Lam in August 2002. Photo: SCMP