Look Who Has Made the List

Recently, Viet Celeb came out with a list called 50 Most Beautiful Vietnamese Women of All Time.  This list consists of the most beautiful Vietnamese actresses, singers, models and beauty queens.  Out of the 50 chosen women, 14 of them were either Amerasians or Eurasians.  The Amerasians and Eurasians include model Anh Duong, television news anchor Betty Nguyen, singer Dai Trang, French actress Dany Carrel, Italian cinema actress Diane Fleri, legendary Hollywood film and television actress France Nuyen, actress Jane March, the late Vietnamese singer Jeannie Mai, Vietnamese singer Julie Quang, French pop singer Leslie, Hong Kong and Hollywood film actress Maggie Q, winner of Revlon's Most Unforgettable Woman Award Mary Xinh Nguyen, Hollywood film and television actress Olivia Munn and singer Thanh Ha.  Amerasians and Eurasians are indeed some of the most beautiful people in the world.

Anh Duong

Betty Nguyen

Dany Carrel

Dai Trang

Diane Fleri

France Nuyen

Jane March

Jeannie Mai 

Julie Quang

Leslie

Maggie Q

Mary Xinh Nguyen

Olivia Munn

Thanh Ha

Link(s):

50 Most Beautiful Vietnamese Women of All Time

Thuy Hang, Remember Her?

There was a time during the 1990s that a fresh new face was just starting to make a huge splash in traditional Vietnamese popular music.  This singer was quite young.  So young that she wasn't even of legal age requirement to vote yet, much less work as a singer at nightclubs.  She was very pretty with fair-skinned complexion, chestnut hair and hazel eyes.  At first glance, most Vietnamese would not be able to tell that she is Vietnamese.  But when this teenage girl would open her mouth to let out just the first few words and notes of any of the songs she sang in Vietnamese, somehow everybody in her predominantly Vietnamese audience, whether it be at a venue or a viewer audience at some private residence watching the May Productions' Hollywood Night live show music video series on VHS back then, would all shut up as their jaws drop to the ground in amazement.  Now that's a difficult task to getting any group of Vietnamese folks to shut up at any given moment.  But this young 16 year old girl back then was able to do just that with her voice.  The singer I'm referring to here is Amerasian Thuy Hang back in the late 1990s.  Remember her?

During the latter part of the 1990s decade, Thuy Hang was the new singing sensation in the Vietnamese music industry.  If Ngoc Lan was dubbed as the queen of the Hollywood Night live show music video series back in the 1990s, Thuy Hang was undoubtedly the princess.  Her albums were selling like crazy at Vietnamese music stores all over the world.  Everywhere I had traveled to back then while I was on the road, I'd see posters and flyers with her photograph blasted as the headliner for an upcoming live concert show posted all over.  Whether I was in Chicago, Dallas, Canada or even Australia, I'd hear that Thuy Hang was either just about to appear in concert there or had just left there after a successful sold out performance.  She was definitely a hot commodity among Vietnamese entertainers then.

What was it about Thuy Hang that made her so special and had set her aside from the rest of Vietnamese singers at the time?  Was it her beauty?  Certainly, Vietnamese singers already have their fair share of beautiful women.  Was it because she was mixed?  Among Amerasian singers, there were already Thanh Ha and Phi Nhung just to name a few, not to mention Eurasian singers Luu Hong and Jeannie Mai who had come long before them.  It was the fact that Thuy Hang, this 16 year old girl, was born and raised in the United States to an Anglo-American mother and a Vietnamese father, yet was able to sing in not only Vietnamese, but traditional Vietnamese music.  Even I found her to be amazing when I saw her perform live.


I had only met Thuy Hang on a couple of occasions.  I wish I could have gotten to know her better back then mainly for two reasons.  The first being the fact that she spoke English like I do.  That time we had met during a flight from New Orleans to Atlanta I really enjoyed our conversation.  During my years working as a Vietnamese singer, it was rare whenever I ran into a colleague that had also grown up here in the States.  So when I met Thuy Hang, to be able to talk with one another as Americans was like a breath of fresh air.  I bumped into her on one other occasion.  It was in Dallas.  I had flown in to perform at some show for the Vietnamese-American Doctors' Association and she was there to perform for the Lunar New Year's Festival.  On both occasions, I found her to be quite lovely.  The other reason had to do with her being a fellow Amerasian.  I've always felt a kinship toward other Amerasians, especially other Amerasian singers.  Out of all the Amerasian singers I had met until Thuy Hang, I had always been the youngest.  I think Phi Nhung is only a year older than I am.  Most other Amerasians from Vietnam had been born in the 1960s.  I was born in 1972.  Thuy Hang didn't come from Vietnam and is nine years younger than myself.  But the fact that she was also Amerasian and a singer made me think of her as a little sister.

But just when it seemed she was at the brink of becoming a huge star in her singing career, Thuy Hang walked away from it all.  I had wondered what happened to her.  Then recently I came across Mr. Thang, the owner of May Productions.  From what he told me, Thuy Hang has now completed her studies and is a successful dentist.  I'm proud of her.  But I just wish she would consider going back to the singing profession.  She's still at an age where she can certainly make another go at it. If she would come back, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see her one day rise to the level of superstardom in the ranks of Huong Lan, Nhu Quynh and Phi Nhung.  

The First Amerasian Singer in the US

Tuan Kiet

Ever since the Vietnamese music industry has been established here in the United States, Amerasian and Eurasian singers have definitely played a viable part.  Among the Eurasian singers worth mentioning, of course, are Luu Hong, Julie Quang, Marie Louise, Quoc Anh, Christiane Le, Dung Thanh Lam, Pauline Ngoc, Jeannie Mai and others.  Among Amerasian singers, we have Thanh Ha, Phi Nhung, Randy, Lilian, Dai Trang, Jenny Trang, Phuong Thao, Danny Tuan and Thien Phu, myself even, and countless others.  But there had to be someone that was the very first, or the true pioneer Amerasian singer that really started it all for us in the Vietnamese music industry here in the United States.  That person happens to be a good friend of mine, an Amerasian singer based out of Minnesota by the name of Tuan Kiet. 

I first met this lad about a couple of years ago when he traveled to Southern California to perform for a show put together by my friend, Thanh Le, to benefit the disabled.  But we had become friends years before that.  It was kind of unusual how we became friends.  Sometime back in 2009, both he and I had been invited to perform for some show in Memphis, Tennessee.  Somehow the show never came to fruition.  That happens in this line of business.  Every once in a while we run into show promoters that can be rather flaky.  They'll call up a bunch of singers, print up the posters and then cancel on us right before the day of the show.  Like I said, it happens.  That's just the way it goes. 

Another singer that was supposed to perform on that particular that never happened in Memphis, Tennessee was my good friend, Jenny Trang.  It was through Jenny that I got to know Tuan Kiet.  We were on the phone one day and she put Tuan Kiet on and the three of us were talking on three-way calling.  Soon after, Tuan Kiet and I became friends as we would contact one another often.  I later found out that his aunt is the legendary Vietnamese singer, My Hang, whom I adore and have met quite a few times through Julie Quang.  Actually, I even worked with My Hang once at some show put together by Linda Go-Go and her husband down in San Diego.  I also would learn through the course of our friendship about Tuan Kiet's impressive long resumé as a Vietnamese singer.  Since he had first arrived to the United States in 1979, one of the first Amerasians to come over under the Amerasian Homecoming Act, he became the first Amerasian singer for the Vietnamese community here in the United States when he started his singing career way back in the early 1980s during his years in college.  That's another accomplishment of his, Tuan Kiet is also a college graduate with a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota.  As a Vietnamese singer, Tuan Kiet has worked with an impressive long list of some of the best among overseas Vietnamese singers including Huong Lan, Khanh Ly, Ngoc Lan and Cong Thanh and Lynn, just to name a few.  I just couldn't wait to meet this guy.

Tuan Kiet and I had developed a strong friendship through our telephone conversations through the years but had yet to meet.  We both had tried on several occasions to meet up.  It was either I would have to meet up with him over in Minnesota or he would have to travel over here to California and meet up with me.  Of course, we could also meet up during a show if we were to be both booked to perform together.  Tuan Kiet was sweet enough to try to get me booked on a few shows in Minnesota, but through no fault of his own those bookings didn't end up happening.  I also did the same for him, vice versa, on shows that I had been booked on for Gia Dinh My Viet to benefit Amerasians in Vietnam.  We also had no such luck through my attempts. 

It got to the point that we both realized just how awkward it was how we both had considered ourselves to be such good friends, yet we hadn't even met in person.  Finally at the beginning of 2013 after all those unsuccessful attempts we had each made to meet up by trying get the both of us booked to perform on the same shows, we both decided that no matter what we would meet up in the summer of that year.  Tuan Kiet agreed that he would come to California during the summer to see me.  I was really excited.  But then as luck would have it, sometime in the spring that year Tuan Kiet called me up one day to let me know he had just been invited to perform out in Southern California at the Saigon Performing Arts Theater on a show put together by Thanh Le to benefit disabled people.  That's when I found out that he, himself, was also disabled.  It had never occurred to me to ask before.  But in fact, my friend, Tuan Kiet, had been stricken with polio at an early age and resorts to the usage of crutches in order to walk.  Just by talking to him, nobody would ever even think that he had any physical handicaps.  He's just so positive.  And when he sings, he just puts everyone into a trance with his magnificent voice, I would later discover. 

The day that Tuan Kiet arrived here at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, I had promised to pick him up.  When I got to the airport, despite how we each had seen photographs of one another, we still had trouble spotting each other out among the crowd of airport travelers.  From what Tuan Kiet said, he saw me pass by him several times but at first glance thought I was some Caucasian guy.  According to Tuan Kiet, I don't even look one bit Vietnamese at all in person.  Finally, I had to use my cell phone to call him up to see just where he was at the airport.  After I dialed the number, I could hear the phone ring somewhere nearby, which means Tuan Kiet was standing within my proximex.  When I heard him say hello, I turned to look over and there he was.  That's when he told me how he had seen me all this time, but didn't approach me because he thought I was some White dude.  Now, even I thought that was funny. 

At Thanh Le's show at the Saigon Performing Arts Theater, out of all the singers there such as Thanh Lan, Quoc Anh, Lilian and Phuong Thao, it was Tuan Kiet's performance that really stood out for me.  He really impressed me.  He performed a medley of French songs together with Thanh Lan and Quoc Anh.  Of course, Thanh Lan and Quoc Anh both did a fine job.  Afterall, they are veteran performers who have reached legendary status.  But when Tuan Kiet started to chime in with the first few lines of Viens M'embrasser in his duet with Thanh Lan, I was completely in awe.  This guy's voice is just beyond breathtaking.  And his pronunciation in French, well, uh, coming from such a critic as myself, it is quite a compliment for me to say that I was truly impressed.  Like Khanh Ly had said once about Tuan Kiet, "When you listen to him sing, his voice just makes you forget that he is disabled.  I'll have to agree with her. 

After his performance at the Saigon Performing Arts Theater, I took Tuan Kiet out and spent the night carousing around various hangouts around the Little Saigon community.  We had a blast.  Every bar we had hit that night, both he and I would get up and sing.  Audiences just loved his voice.  Together, we were a hit.  Yes, even I got a few compliments for my singing that night, as well. 

It has been almost two years since then.  We still keep in contact through our telephone conversations.  He's really an all-around great guy.  At times I feel as if I've known him all my life.  I really look forward to our next meeting together, which I'm hoping will be sometime in the very near future. 

The Late Eurasian Beauty of Vietnamese Pop Music, Jeannie Mai

Sometime in the summer of 1990, I was devastated by the news that Jeannie Mai, a beautiful Eurasian French-Vietnamese singer, had just died.  I really couldn't believe it.  She was so young and so beautiful.  Only 33 years of age, yet she was taken from us just like that.

Jeannie Mai (1957-1990)

Many people don't know this, but the fact is Jeannie Mai for a time was actually my aunt.  She was once my uncle Louie's wife.  While in Vietnam, when she was still teenager, Jeannie Mai sang at my grandmother's nightclub, Au Ma Cabane.  Supposedly, this was when Jeannie Mai and my Uncle Louie first met and developed a puppy love relationship between one another.  I remember as a little kid I would constantly hear my mother and the rest of my aunts raving about what a beautiful and sweet girl Jeannie Mai was and how she would just light up the stage each night she sang at my grandmother's nightclub.  I was just too young then to remember much.  My mother would every now and then ask me if I remember how Jeannie Mai would always carry me around and people would ask if I was in fact her son.  Perhaps that was because of the fact that both Jeannie Mai and myself had naturally curly hair and European facial features, Vietnamese people felt that we looked alike. But how could I remember her from back then?  I must have been just two years old when all of that was happening.  She left Vietnam in 1974 while she was just 17 years old for France.  I remained in Vietnam until 1978.

It wasn't until 1982 that I would be reunited with Jeannie Mai again.  It was at my grandmother's house in Westminster, California during a Christmas party.  By this time, Jeannie Mai had resettled in the United States from France and she and my uncle Louie were then living together as a couple. Although they never had gotten officially married, they referred to each other as husband and wife and Auntie Mai, which was what I called her, addressed my grandmother as mom.  It seemed as if everyone had already welcomed her into the family since they had known her for so long and that the day of their wedding inevitably would take place in only a matter of time.  But that day never did come, as a few year later these two beautiful people whom I thought had made the most beautiful couple would break up.  At that family Christmas party, when my mother and I first arrived Jeannie Mai was already there with my uncle. It was obvious she was really anxious to see what I looked like after all those years.  I thought that was really sweet.  When we were introduced, she threw her arms around me and said, "You've gotten really big.  Pretty soon, you're going to be taller than me."  It took me a few seconds to realize what she was saying because I kept staring at her.  I just couldn't get over just how beautiful she was and how French she looked, yet Vietnamese was coming out of her mouth.  I remember Jeannie Mai telling my mother just how I had gotten to look more and more like my father and that I didn't look at all Vietnamese.  I thought to myself, "You're telling me."

Through the years that followed, I would see Auntie Mai every once in a while at one of our family's parties.  Even though she and my uncle were no longer together, she still kept in touch with my family.  On one particular occasion, Auntie Mai entertained the family playing the piano and singing to everyone.  That would mark the first time I ever sang in front of an audience.  She encouraged me to get up and sing with her while she played the piano to one of her signature songs, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?  I guess you can say that it was my Auntie Mai that was the first person who really put the thoughts into my head about one day becoming a singer.

The very last time I saw Auntie Mai was sometime in the summer of 1987.  By then she was living in San Jose, married to an engineer with a baby boy.  She had just gotten back from a successful tour in Australia with Le Thu and Huong Lan and had stopped by my grandmother's house to visit before catching a flight back to San Jose the next day.  That was where she bumped into me and invited me to go to the mall with her.  We spent the entire day at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California.  We talked about a lot of things.  I really enjoyed being around her.  She was hip, very in touch with American culture, and spoke both English and French without an accent.  I adored her.  In fact, I'd have to say she was my favorite aunt.  And then the next thing I knew, in 1990 she was dead.

Her premature death came as quite a shock to the Vietnamese community and her adoring fans.  I had loved and known her on a personal level.  Needless to say, her passing was a huge blow to me.  There had been all kinds of vicious rumors about her death that ranged from her being murdered by her husband with the intentions of inheriting some enormous amount of life insurance money to her dying on the operating table during a liposuction procedure, when the truth was she had died after complications from some simple cosmetic surgery procedures she had done while she was in Hawaii. All it was was that she had gone in to get some minor work done on her eyes and nose and somehow the anesthesia was just too much for her to handle, therefor she died.  I don't know why she would ever even think about getting cosmetic surgery because she was already naturally gorgeous.  But for whatever reason, she did make that decision which unfortunately costed her her life.  I can't help but to think, what if she hadn't, from time to time. I still miss her very much to this day.