Jenny Trang: The Amerasian Girl With a Huge Voice

Jenny Trang has been one of my best friends for the last 20 years. How we met was on a show featuring Amerasian singers hosted by Mary Xinh Nguyen held at the Cal State Long Beach auditorium in 1993.  Back then she had just arrived from Vietnam to the United States and was married to Thanh Le.  Out of all the performers that night, what I saw in this girl was star potential reminiscent of Julie Quang and Carol Kim.  She had a naturally powerful voice, none like any other.

A few years after that show, I would meet Jenny Trang again when she called me out of the blue.  I was very happy to hear her voice.  She told me she had just divorced from Thanh Le and was beginning a new life.  Jenny and I started to hang out quite often.  By then, I was already a professional Vietnamese singer.  In 1996, Jenny Trang was a regular performer at the Can Nightclub in Garden Grove, California.  She was about to release her first studio album, Kiep Con Lai, to be released by Bien Productions.  Jenny Trang and I had worked together on several occasions.  Most notably was a show we had worked together with Hoang Liem and Thuy Vi.

What is there to say about Jenny Trang except she is an all around great girl.  She loves to sing and is passionate about her craft.  Our friendship has grown through the years to be more like that of a brother and sister.  If I had had an actual sister, I would want her to be just like Jenny Trang.

After the release of her album, Jenny put her career on hold to start a family.  Today she is happily married with three beautiful daughters.  She still can belt out a song today just as she had done so years ago, but her primary focus lies within raising her family rather than the stage.  Most recently, Jenny Trang and I met up when she told me she was moving to Arizona to start a manicuring business.  I am happy for her.  But part of me still wishes she had pursued her singing career further since she was blessed with such a fantastic voice.

For all Amerasians, Jenny Trang, as a singer, did do us a service by singing what is considered the anthem for our people.  The name of the song that Jenny Trang is most associated with is called Kiep Con Lai, in which she had appeared on a music video for Hollywood Night.  It's hard to watch this video without shedding a tear.  It happens to me everytime.