Randy

Among Vietnamese male vocalists who sing traditional Vietnamese pop music, there are Tuan Vu, Manh Quynh, Che Linh, Truong Vu, Nhat Truong, Duy Khanh, etc.  The list just goes on and on.  My favorite out of all these male vocalists has always been Randy.  Yes, Randy.  He's the only one that can put me to tears with his heartfelt, soulful voice when listening to this type of music.  Amazing doesn't even begin to describe his talent.

I remember the first time I heard about him was when he first appeared on Vietnam Performing Arts Television in 1992 with the song, No.  His interpretation of that song was so moving that I had to record it on my VCR and play it over and over again the next few weeks.  And then he appeared again on Vietnam Performing Arts Television with another song, Loi Dang Cho Mot Cuoc Tinh.  At that point, I was sold.  He definitely had me with his unique voice.

It's rather hard to believe when I think about it.  How is it that I can turn into a fan of a singer such as Randy?  After all, the type of music that I sing is not even close to what Randy sings.  I had to go out and buy a few CDs Randy had recorded for Hai Au Productions.  On one particular CD, Randy sang along with two other artists, also Amerasian, half Black and half Vietnamese, Jenny Trang and Quoc Viet, who would later become known as Luu Quoc Viet.  I immensely enjoyed that one.  I had become friends with both Jenny Trang and Quoc Viet by that time.  But I had yet to meet Randy.

Sometime in 1994, I had been invited to perform in Australia.  The show promoter that had invited me kept raving about Randy on a previous show he had put together with Randy, Thai Chau, Thanh Tuyen, Nhu Mai, Lynda Trang Dai and Don Ho.  Basically what he was saying was the audience just adored Randy and that the response Randy had received, Thai Chau couldn't even hold a candle to.  I thought to myself, I've got to meet this Randy.

Two years after that, I was in Oakland to do a 2-night booking at a club named Phuong Hoang.  Right before I was supposed to go up on stage, someone had informed me Randy was in the audience.  I was so excited.  Here was my chance to finally meet him.  When the emcee announced my name, I went up and did my first set of songs.  I looked all over the audience and Randy was nowhere to be found.  Since I was headlining that night, it would have been odd if I just started to walk all around the club just to look for someone.  So I just went backstage, asked that same person who had told me about seeing Randy a few minutes prior.  That was when I found out Randy had left right before I went on stage.  What is up with this guy?  I guess it wasn't in the cards for us to ever meet.

Finally, it happened. A few weeks after that engagement in Oakland, I was at the Majestic Club one night with Jenny Trang.  During the middle of our conversation, Jenny turned to me and said, "My husband's here."  I thought she was referring to Thanh Le, who in fact was Jenny's ex-husband.  And then I turned around and saw this good-looking tall Black guy with a great, big smile on his face.  He looked at Jenny and said, "Chao ba xa!"  (Hello, wife!)  They both started giggling.  Jenny introduced me to him and he slapped me on the shoulders and said, "I know who he is."  From that moment on, we became the best of friends.

Through the years, I've always referred to Randy as "anh" in Vietnamese, mainly because he started singing long before I did.  In reality, Randy is only a year older than I am.  It was through our mutual friendship with Quoc Viet, later known as Luu Quoc Viet, that would bring us even closer.  I ran into Randy at Luu Quoc Viet's funeral in 2008.  By then, I had left the singing business for about 7 years. Randy invited me to tour with him on a series of shows for Gia Dinh My Viet.  When I think about it, Randy is the one responsible for my return to the stage.  On one particular booking, Randy and I traveled together to Houston to do a show for Gia Dinh My Viet.  On that show, I was reminded of his incredible talent when he got up on stage and sang a song he had written himself, Sau Cuoc Chien.  There wasn't a dry eye in the audience that night.  He put me in tears with his heartfelt performance.  I needed a few minutes to dry my tears before it was my turn to get up on stage and sing.  He is truly an amazing artist.

It's been a while since I've seen Randy.  I've heard he got married and is quite happy.  I only wish the best for Randy.  He'll always be like the brother I have never had.

A Tribute to Phuong Thao

We've all heard of the difficult challenges Amerasians had to face in Vietnam during the years after the Fall of Saigon.  Being a minority in a homogeneous society would certainly not be without its challenges, especially in a country such as Vietnam in the years after an unpopular and lengthy war. Many Amerasians were shunned by society in Vietnam, left as orphans abandoned by both parents. But one Amerasian in particular, Phuong Thao, had defied the odds and rose to fame with her God-given talents as a Vietnamese pop singer.

I remember meeting Phuong Thao during my first trip back to Vietnam in the winter of 1991.  I was 19 years old at the time, in college and a volunteer worker for an organization called Amerasian Services that was based out of St. Anselm's Refugee Center here in Orange County, California.  After a few months into my volunteer work, I was asked by the director of Amerasian Services, Mary Payne Nguyen, to accompany her on a trip to Vietnam to assist Amerasians who were in waiting for their applications to be approved in order to come live in the United States under the Amerasian Homecoming Act.  During the months that some of these Amerasians were in waiting, they would be temporarily stationed at the Amerasian Transit Center located in the Dam Sen district of Ho Chi Minh City.  While there, on one sunny afternoon Phuong Thao pulled up on a motorcycle with bags full of clothes and presents that she brought with her to give to those Amerasians and their families at the Amerasian Transit Center.  Dressed in jeans and a Polo T-shirt, the only thing that set her aside from everyone else was a pair of sunglasses that she wore.  I had no idea she was a famous singer.  As everyone at the center flocked to crowd around her, I was a bit hesitant to say hello.  But when we were introduced to one another, she took off her glasses and gave me the friendliest smile.  That would mark the first time I met Phuong Thao.

During our conversation together, I found her to be very warm and humble.  I addressed her as chi, since I found out she is 5 years older than me.  As we talked, I couldn't help but to ask her why she hadn't submitted her application with the Amerasian Homecoming Act to come live in the United States.  Her answer to me was that she felt her life was quite settled in Vietnam.  Her singing career had just taken off.  She had just recently gotten married to a fellow who was a film actor in Vietnam.  Phuong Thao was well aware that although her singing career had strong potential in the overseas Vietnamese community, the same could not be said for husband's career should they decide to relocate and live in the States.  She made a lot of sense.  After all, it isn't easy to make it in show business in any country.  Phuong Thao had done so in her native Vietnam.  During the early 1990s, Phuong Thao was one of the brightest young talents in the music industry of Vietnam.  I guess you could say that she had reached diva status back then in Vietnam, since her immense popularity had placed her in the ranks of such iconic superstars at the time like Cam Van and Bao Yen.  Given her level of success, I can understand why she wouldn't want to have to start all over again in a foreign country.

That night I went to go watch her sing at the Rex Hotel in Saigon.  I went backstage to say hi.  There just wasn't enough time for her to talk much with me then.  You see, singers in Vietnam have to perform at 5 or 6 different places nightly.  The Rex Hotel was only Phuong Thao's second stop with 4 more to go to on her nightly performing schedule.  Nevertheless, she was happy to see me.  And I was happy to be able to see how the singers of Vietnam worked on a daily basis.  It truly is a whole different world.

Ngoc Le and Phuong Thao

The next time I would see Phuong Thao was in 1998 when I traveled back again to Vietnam.  By this time, I had heard she had gotten remarried to a musician named Ngoc Le.  I went to watch her perform at the Lan Anh music venue where the crowd went wild as she sang her big hit written by her husband, Cafe Mot Minh.  I didn't get a chance to talk with her this time around.  But I was very happy to see that things seemed to be going alright for her.

Phuong Thao and Ngoc Le
together with their two children

In recent years, I had heard that she had been reunited with her American father and has since moved to the United States.  With the exception of an appearance on video for Asia Productions, Phuong Thao has not really participated much in the overseas Vietnamese entertainment industry.  I don't know why, since the last time I heard her sing live at a benefit show for the disabled put together by my friend, Thanh Le, in 2013, she sounded and looked great.  To me, it didn't seem as if she had lost her touch one bit/  That is why I'm puzzled as to why her career hasn't continued to flourish upon her resettling here in the States.

Despite how Phuong Thao's performances have been rather seldom in recent years, I'll always look onto her as a pioneer for Amerasian singers.  The fact that she, as an Amerasian, was able to defy the odds and make it in Vietnam to become one of the most popular singers there is astounding.  Phuong Thao has been a hero to all Amerasians, especially to Amerasian performers like myself.  

Phi Nhung: Our Other Amerasian Diva of Vietnamese Music

If Thanh Ha is considered the Amerasian diva of Vietnamese popular music, Phi Nhung would surely be the Amerasian diva of more traditional Vietnamese music.  From the early 1990s when Phi Nhung first entered onto the scene as an overseas Vietnamese singer of traditional Vietnamese music, audiences quickly embraced her genuine style of singing.  Starting with her earliest audio recordings for the music label, Thuy Anh, Phi Nhung had shown strong potential with her interpretations of traditional and folkloric music, especially being able to sing with an authentic Southern Vietnamese accent on folk songs originally from that particular region of Vietnam.  An Amerasian, of inter-ethnic mixed parentage, Phi Nhung's striking European features coupled with her dress attire of a traditional Vietnamese pheasant girl brought a pleasant contrast with audiences.


Born in Pleiku, Vietnam on October 4, 1972, Phi Nhung grew up without her father who was an American serviceman.  In a family of 5 other siblings and her mother, Phi Nhung's unfortunate circumstances only allowed her to attend school up until 6th grade.  At the age of 17 in 1989, Phi Nhung was able to come live in the United States under the Amerasian Homecoming Act.  She first resettled in Tampa, Florida where she began pursuing her childhood dreams of becoming a professional singer.  After a chance meeting with Vietnamese-American singer, Trizzie Phuong Trinh, Phi Nhung was given an invitation in 1993 to come to California where she would be introduced to Tien Bac, the owner of Thuy Anh Productions.

Phi Nhung's first recordings for Thuy Anh were not met with much reception from the overseas Vietnamese audiences.  But with the encouragement of overseas Vietnamese singing legend, Huong Lan, Phi Nhung continued relentlessly to pursue her dream.  After her video appearance on May Productions' Hollywood Night Volume 15 video series on a duet song, Song Que 1, with Thai Chau, Phi Nhung began to win the hearts of Vietnamese audiences.  Soon after, her other recordings of songs such as Bong Dien Dien, Co Le, Lam Dau Xu La, and Ngau Hung Ly Qua Cau would turn Phi Nhung into a superstar. 

Her numerous collaborations with Phuong Nga, K Productions, Thuy Nga Paris, and Tinh Productions have made her a bestseller among Vietnamese singers and led her to travelling around the world performing to Vietnamese audiences worldwide.  There was a time Phi Nhung and myself were label mates.  In 1998, she and I were both under contract with Bien Tinh Productions.  That was when we became friends.  One thing I really appreciate about Phi Nhung is the fact that she has never forgotten her roots.  Phi Nhung has been one of the few Amerasian artists that have taken part on shows promoted by Gia Dinh My Viet to raise awareness for Amerasian causes. 

Since 2005, Phi Nhung has been associated with Rang Dong Productions, based in Vietnam.  She continues to appear frequently on Van Son Productions and Thuy Nga Paris.  Phi Nhung's duet video appearances with Manh Quynh have been one of the biggest hits on the Paris By Night stage.  In addition to Phi Nhung's successful career as a singer of traditional Vietnamese music, she has also found success on the "cai luong" stage.  Her versatility has been one of the many reasons why she has become a legendary overseas Vietnamese artist, a status of Phi Nhung that remains to this day.

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