Dai Trang Featured on Viet Celeb

Dai Trang has definitely been one of the most successful overseas Eurasian Vietnamese singers ever since she first came onto the scene back in the early 1990s appearing on a string of Hollywood Night videos produced by May Productions.  She had started to make an impact in the overseas Vietnamese entertainment industry representing the Amerasian/Eurasian Vietnamese community before the likes of Thanh Ha and Phi Nhung had made their way.  It is my honor and privilege to feature Dai Trang on VietCeleb.BlogSpot.com.  For the tribute and bio of Dai Trang featured on Viet Celeb, click on the link below.  Our next Amerasian singers to be featured on VietCeleb will be Lilian and Randy.  Look for their upcoming bios and tributes that will be published at the beginning of next month.

Link:  

Dai Trang Bio on Viet Celeb

Tributes to Two Eurasian Performers of Vietnamese Folk Opera

With the recent passing on July 10, 2015 of Phuong Thanh, a very handsome German-Vietnamese Eurasian actor of traditional Southern Vietnamese folk opera known as "cai luong", made me think of another legendary Eurasian French-Vietnamese actor, Dung Thanh Lam.  But let's not drift away from the topic of Phuong Thanh's recent passing just yet.  Afterall, he was a tremendous talent in his own right.  I've had the chance to meet him on one occasion when I was over in Paris a few years back.  I met him through singer Tuan Hung's mother, "cai luong" actress Kieu Le Mai, who is also Eurasian of French and Vietnamese decent.  I found him to be a very lovely man, as he was quite humble.  And despite how he was of advanced age during the time of our meeting, I can still see very visible remaining traces of him once being a very handsome man.  Now that I think about it, I do remember watching him on those "cai luong" video productions from Thuy Nga Paris back when I was a kid.  Phuong Thanh had starred in a series of those "cai luong" video productions during the 1980s and costarred with the likes of Huu Phuoc, Thanh Duoc, Huong Lan, Mong Tuyen, Phuong Mai, Phuong Hong Ngoc and Kieu Le Mai.  He sure was one very handsome devil.  I guess a lot of folks don't know this about me, but I've been a huge fan of "cai luong" ever since I can remember.  I guess that's an innate trait for Eurasians.  Looking back at the history of performers of Southern Vietnamese folk opera, there have been quite a few of us Eurasians like Phuong Thanh, Kieu Le Mai, Phuong Hong Ngoc, who is a quarter French, Bich Ngoc and of course, Dung Thanh Lam.  Phuong Thanh will definitely be greatly missed.

Phuong Thanh (1948-2015)
Eurasian Actor of Vietnamese Folk Opera Stage Known as "Cai Luong"

As I mentioned earlier, the passing of "cai luong" actor Phuong Thanh made me think of Dung Thanh Lam.  Besides having watched Dung Thanh Lam perform live in an all-star cast which included Huong Lan, Huu Phuoc, Thanh Duoc, Viet Hung, Phuong Mai and Bang Chau in Tam Long Cua Bien at the Anaheim Convention Center back in the 1988 and one other time later that same year in Nua Doi Huong Phan at the Valley High School auditorium in Santa Ana, California, I had also gotten to know him on a personal level when I became an adult sometime in the early 1990s.  Where shall I begin?  Alright, I'll start with when I first started singing for the Vietnamese community back in 1993.  One of my first bookings was an engagement at the Normandie Casino in Gardena, Southern California where I would befriend a Vietnamese celebrity by the name of Kim Qui.  Believe it or not, but Kim Qui was actually one of the first Vietnamese celebrities I had become friends with when I first started out as a Vietnamese singer.  If her name happens to ring a bell with a bit of uncertainty, just disregard any uncertainty because it is who you think it is.  Yes, that Kim Qui!  The one and only Kim Qui, Saigon's legendary, most celebrated performer of burlesque.  Or shall I say, the famous striptease artist?  She was actually one very cool lady. Anyway, she had been booked to perform on that same engagement with me at Normandie Casino.  At that time, I guess she was trying to pursue a career as a singer.  But on the night of the show, somehow her segment where she was supposed to sing a couple of songs got cut out altogether and was only able to perform her burlesque act.  So to make a long story short, she and I had become friends during rehearsals for the show.  One day she invited me over to her place for dinner.  That's when I found out that her "husband", or the man in her life at the moment, was none other than Dung Thanh Lam.  Upon meeting him for the first time, we instantly clicked.  I guess there's something about Eurasian-to-Eurasian interaction.  Like I said, we just clicked and talked to one another as if we had known each other our entire lives.  After that engagement at the Normandie Casino, I would see Kim Qui every now and then.  But we really didn't remain that close simply because we didn't have all that much in common to really sustain a close friendship.  I did run into her one night at the Ritz Nightclub in Anaheim some months after the Normandie Casino show and while she and I were sipping on some cognac, she revealed that she and Dung Thanh Lam had broken up.  I could tell she was really saddened.  That made me feel bad for her.

I hadn't seen Dung Thanh Lam for years until the beginning of the year 2000.  It was during Tet season.  I had been booked on a show in Pomona, California at the Tet Festival for the Vietnamese community there in celebration of the Vietnamese New Year.  Since Pomona has a rather small Vietnamese community in comparison to Little Saigon in Westminster, California, you could imagine how much smaller their Tet festival gathering would be in comparison to what we're used to seeing in Orange County year after year.  I think that was actually the very first year that the Vietnamese community of Pomona held a Tet festival.  Only three performers were scheduled to appear at that show.  Can you guess who these three were?  They were Dung Thanh Lam, Dai Trang and myself, Thien Phu.  Blown up photos of all three of us were so exaggerated on the flyers that had been made to promote the festival, it looked as if it were an advertisement for some really major event.  But in all reality, the total number of people who ended up attending the Tet Festival in Pomona that year only came to just slightly over 300. I didn't realize it until Dung Thanh Lam had pointed this out to Dai Trang and myself when all three of us were hanging out in the dressing room before the show began.  Pointing at the poster he said, "It's rather odd how they would book all three of us Eurasians for this show, don't you think?  The flyer says that these three singers will be performing for the Vietnamese New Year's festival.  What if someone who wasn't Vietnamese saw the flyer?  Seeing photos of the three of us, they would probably think, 'Why are these three Mexicans performing for Vietnamese New Year?'"  We couldn't stop laughing the whole night over what he had said.

Dung Thanh Lam (1942-2014)
French-Vietnamese Eurasian Actor of "Cai Luong" Stage and Films in South Vietnam

Unfortunately, that was the only time I ever got to work with Dung Thanh Lam.  Two years after that one time we had worked together, I would hear through the grapevines from others in the Vietnamese entertainment world that he fallen ill.  No specific illness was ever revealed.  All I would hear was that he was in poor health.  The next thing I know, a couple of years later he was dead.

It turns out that what had taken Dung Thanh Lam's life so prematurely was cirrhosis of the liver.  I wish I had visited him in the hospital while he was still alive.  I know that there was nothing I could have done to help save his life.  I really wanted to see him so that I could tell him thank you for all of his accomplishments in his career as a Vietnamese entertainer and how he being Eurasian, an "ethnic minority" in the Vietnamese culture, had really set a good example and had opened a lot of doors for other Eurasians of future generations to come.  Dung Thanh Lam was truly a pioneer for Eurasians in the Vietnamese entertainment world.  He was the first Eurasian to grace the "cai luong" stage in South Vietnam, the first Eurasian to appear on national television in South Vietnam and the first Eurasian actor to appear in Vietnamese films.  For such unprecedented accomplishments and contributions,  it is my pleasure to salute, celebrate and honor the memory of Dung Thanh Lam.

Mong Tuyen and Phuong Thanh in Mưa Rừng (1991)

One final note, in the early 1990s the overseas Vietnamese production label, Thuy Nga Paris, had released on video a reprisal performance of the classic cải lương play, Mưa Rừng, starring Mong Tuyen as the lead female character and both of our late Eurasian fellas, Dung Thanh Lam and Phuong Thanh.  For some reason, Mong Tuyen has always looked as if she was Eurasian, to me.  I've read biographies on her and from I've read, both of her parents were Vietnamese.  But how did she end up with such apparent European features on her face?  That's just something I've wondered about every once in a great while.  

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

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. 

Hoang Dung: One of the Most Recognizable Vietnamese Voices

Growing up without any brothers or sisters, I was fortunate to have found an adoptive family when I became a Vietnamese singer.  This family consisted of brothers and sisters who were also singers and, of course, Amerasian as well.  Jenny Trang was the first to welcome me into this family and to this day I still consider her as my sister.  Others included Dai Trang, Luu Quoc Viet, Ngoc Anh, Randy, Thanh Ha, Lam Minh, Lilian, Cathy Dung, Y Linh and Hoang Dung, who actually could pass as a biological brother to me.

The setting where we first met would be at a wedding of my stepfather's cousin in 1996.  The band that was playing that night was named Lucky Star.  I'd have to say this was one of the better bands at weddings.  The lineup of singers for the band included Marilyn Nhung, Chieu Phuong, Long Ho (Don Ho's younger brother) and Hoang Dung.  The singer that caught my attention the most was Hoang Dung.  He looked just like James Dean.

When we were introduced, I was a bit nervous.  I had recognized him on the covers of compact discs produced by Nguoi Dep Binh Duong.  When Jenny Trang introduced me to him, his reply to me was, "I'm your brother, Thien Phu."  Now how can anyone not like a cool guy like that?

In the months to come, my relationship with Hoang Dung would be like that of actual brothers. During the Thanksgiving weekend of that year, Hoang Dung and Jenny Trang performed in Atlanta. They both tried to get me to go on that trip with them, but I had a prior engagement in San Jose.  A few months later when it was my turn to perform in Atlanta, I remember from that trip was how everyone I had come across while in Atlanta kept raving about this handsome Amerasian singer named Hoang Dung that had brought the house down each time he came to Atlanta to perform.   The same folks would aslo ask me if I knew him personally and how they could go about to contact him so that he could return to Atlanta for another performance soon.  That made me feel really proud of this brother of mine.  During this time I would also learn that Hoang Dung's primary job was doing voice overs for Chinese dramas translated in Vietnamese.  In a sense, that would make his voice one of the most recognizable among Vietnamese voices.

Years later, when I was invited by Randy to perform with fellow Amerasian singer Ngoc Anh in Orlando, Florida for a show put together by Gia Dinh My Viet, I got Hoang Dung to come along.  Unfortunately, a series of events would take place that caused a misunderstanding between us.  Let's just say that alcohol had been involved.  That's a real shame, because Hoang Dung is really a great guy.  It's been a while since I've been in contact with him.  I just hope he's doing alright.

Luu Hong: A Second Mother to Me

I'll never forget the very first time I met this beautiful lady.  The year was 1995 at a nightclub called the Majestic in Huntington Beach, California.  At the time I was singing at a place called the Caravelle in Anaheim.  On that certain night sometime in February there was a night put together for another fellow Eurasian singer by the name of Cong Hung, a handsome fella who also sang in French.  I can't recall who was the emcee for the show that night.  It had to be one of the two, either it was Quoc Thai or Cong Thanh.  When I walked into the club, my eyes instantly were drawn to Luu Hong who was also present that night.

There she was, the same lady who sang Pho Dem, Cafe Dang, Tu Do Em Buon, Chuyen Hen Ho, and countless other songs.  I walked back and forth just to get her attention.  I didn't know who the emcee was.  I asked around and finally I saw Quoc Thai.  He asked me in English, "Excuse me, sir, may I help you?"  I answered back in Vietnamese and we both started to giggle.  That was when I noticed Luu Hong had overheard our conversation.  I turned to her and asked her, "Has this ever happened to you?  Do you get mistaken as an Anglo-American?"  She smiled and said, "When I was a little girl in Vietnam, yes, I did, all the time.  Now that I'm older, most Vietnamese people know who Luu Hong is, I don't get that anymore."  She then proceeded to ask who I was and invited me to sit next to her.  I couldn't resist this opportunity.


I don't remember what happened next.  But before I knew it, I think it was Cong Thanh who introduced me on stage as Luu Hong's son.  I can't tell you how many people thought he was serious that night.  For a while there, everyone thought I really was her son.

In the years that followed, wherever I performed, people would ask me if Luu Hong was indeed my mother. Well, she did treat me as if I was her son.  We became rather close.  On one occasion, I remember going to Phuoc Loc Tho, otherwise known as Asian Garden Mall, with Luu Hong and another fellow singer named Dai Trang.  I remember how the owner of Jean's jewelry store had asked me if they were my mother and sister.


By the time I had reached prominence in the singing business, Luu Hong had pretty much retired.  She had experienced some sort of injury while singing that led to her decision to retire.  Sometime in the year 2000, I did run into her at an event put together by the former South Vietnamese officers' association.  I remember how she came on stage, chimed in a few words to the song, Nang Xuan, and the audience just went wild.  In recent years, the last time I heard from her was about 3 years ago when both her mother and oldest son had passed away.  Luu Hong was still living in El Toro, California.  I truly miss her.  She really is like a second mother to me.  

Dai Trang: Dancing All Night and Always Moving Forward

For as long as I've known Dai Trang, I've always been tremendously impressed with her drive and motivation.  She has always been a go-getter.  Nothing ever seems to hold her back from getting what she wants in life and achieving the goals she has set out for herself.  Dai Trang truly is an over-achiever who has set a perfect example for others to see what hard work and determination can bring in life. 

My friendship with Dai Trang started sometime in the year of 1994.  It had been just a few years since her arrival to the United States from Vietnam, yet she had already established herself as a household name with overseas Vietnamese audiences worldwide and was enjoying a highly successful singing career with a full schedule.  When she wasn't touring out of town, she was performing regularly at the Ritz Nightclub in Anaheim, California.  During this time, Dai Trang was also riding high with her professional association with May Productions as a regular performer on the Hollywood Night stage. With each appearance that Dai Trang was making on the Hollywood Night music video series, audiences were being mesmerized by her exotic Eurasian beauty, her charm and unique style of singing.  Among the songs Dai Trang had performed on Hollywood Night included Red Hot, Tokyo by Night, Venus, Jump in My Car, and the most memorable of them all, Dancing All Night.  That was also the song that had turned me into a Dai Trang fan.  On one volume of the Hollywood Night series, it was revealed how she had gained quite a following among admiring viewers who had taken notice of her physical beauty, as Dai Trang was deemed as the Vietnamese singer who had possessed the most attractive set of legs.

Dai Trang on the popular
Hollywood Night music video series

When I first met Dai Trang, I was a bit nervous.  Our first meeting was sometime near the end of the year in 1994.  It was at her apartment somewhere in Garden Grove.  I had driven my good friend, singer Jenny Trang, over to Dai Trang's house, as the two had planned to meet up for lunch.  When I arrived, my intitial intentions were to just drop off Jenny and come back later on to pick her up once she was done with her visit.  But as I pulled up to the entrance of the apartment building, I was met with Dai Trang while she was waiting for us and was overtaken by her charm.  I just could not refuse Dai Trang's insistence that I come up to join them for lunch.  She was just so sweet and sincere that I just could not back out.  From that moment on, Dai Trang and I have grown to be more than just friends and colleagues, but our very special friendship which entails a strong love that has developed between us has become as close as that of actual siblings.


Dai Trang has been one of my true rocks throughout my years working in the singing business.  She has always been there to give me support and encouragement whenever needed in this often frustrating line of work.  One of the ways she has exemplified her duties of a benevolent big sister to me is how she has set an example of herself in order to teach me the ropes of attaining success and building for myself a sense of confidence.  Like I said, nothing ever gets Dai Trang down.  Her determination has been the driving force behind her success.

In the years that I've known Dai Trang, she has managed to have a successful singing career as well as a successful career as a businesswoman.  After many years in the spotlight, she decided to start a family as she is now mother to a son and wife to a wonderful man, Chau, an Oriental herbalist.  Since then she has gone back to school and earned herself an MBA Degree from UC Irvine in business marketing.   Together with her husband, the two have run a successful business, Phuc An Duong, a distribution firm of high quality Oriental herbs , and own a patent for Bach Lien Tra, a natural herbal tea product in which Dai Trang endorses on her self-produced Vietnamese language radio and television programs.  At one time, she also was part-owner of a Vietnamese television station.  Dai Trang still appears on video frequently for Blue Ocean Productions and performs every now and then at live shows all over the world.  Like I've often said about Dai Trang, she always seems to be running while the rest of us walk.

Link(s):

Bach Lien Tra Website
DaiTrangSinger.BlogSpot.com