Anh Tu was one of those people that can leave a lasting impression with just about anyone upon the very first meeting with him. He was that charismatic. Prior to my first meeting with Anh Tu, of course, I had already known of him through his recordings and several live concert shows I had attended that where he and his sister, Khanh Ha, along with the rest of their family band members known as the Uptight had headlined. I have always been a huge fan of both his sister, Khanh Ha, and older brother, Tuan Ngoc. To this day, they are still among my all time favorite Vietnamese singers. Although I had enjoyed some of the recordings Anh Tu had done on several cassettes produced by Khanh Ha Productions that I had owned, I really didn't pay that much attention to him as a vocalist, as I had done with his siblings that were more famous. Although it was undeniable that all 7 members of this family of singers had been blessed with musical genes and tremendous talent, the success that both Tuan Ngoc and Khanh Ha had achieved being deemed as the top male and top female vocalists, respectively, of Vietnamese pop music for many years along with the popularity Luu Bich, the youngest sibling, later on overshadowed Anh Tu as a performer. Anh Tu's impeccable ability to harmonize with perfect pitch had been taken notice of by his family from early on which is why he had been chosen to sing background vocals for the Uptight, while his other siblings sang lead. Being in the background, he always struck me as being the shy, timid member of the family. However, Anh Tu's talents were not overlooked completely as he, too, was able to achieve longevity as a successful singer and acquired a cult following of loyal fans that remained throughout his entire career.
When I think about how Anh Tu and I first met, our friendship almost never happened. It was on a night at the Can club here in Orange County, Southern California. The year was 1996. At any of the Vietnamese nightclubs that I had worked at, every now and then some special event would take place sponsored by some organization. On this particular night, the show was sponsored by an organization known as Club O'Noodles, an innovative group of young Vietnamese actors that had achieved notoriety for their plays that focused on issues of the day such as women's rights and gay rights. I was singing over at the Queen Bee in Stanton, California. It was a slow night, so I was able to go home early along with some of the other singers. I had heard about this event over at the Can club, and since it was only midnight, I figured why not drop by and relax for a bit before I would head on home. Right when I got to the Can club, I ran into some friends, singers Hoang Liem and Jenny Trang when I went to go greet the owner, singer Le Uyen who also goes by the name, Wendy. As a singer, wherever you go whether it's the club where you work or not, people will ask you to come up on stage to sing a song or two. Wendy kept on insisting I go on stage to sing a song. As she says, and I'm sure she says this with every singer who drops by her club, "Please sing me a song. I haven't heard you sing in so long." Before I had the chance to even agree to singing a song that night, I was hit with the instructions from Wendy that after Hoang Liem went on stage, he would introduce my name, and after I'm finished with my song, I was supposed to introduce Jenny Trang. Hoang Liem sang his song and introduced me on stage. And after I was done singing Aline, which was the song that I took with me everywhere I went during that time. And as soon as I was done, I did just what Wendy had instructed me to do, which was introduce Jenny Trang. As the crowd applauded I saw Jenny walk up toward the stage and prepared to hand the microphone over to her. All of the sudden, Anh Tu appeared out of nowhere, took the microphone from my hand and introduced another singer on stage. I was in total shock. I thought to myself, "What a jerk! Who does he think he is to snatch away the microphone from my hand? And how dare he embarrass Jenny Trang by introducing someone else on stage like that?"
I was just livid. I walked Jenny back to the bar counter. As I was fuming, I told Wendy to get me another shot of Tequila. And then another. And another. I think I called Anh Tu every name in the book as I vowed to Wendy that he should steer clear away from me or else. As far as I was concerned, Anh Tu was dead meat. I had never been so humiliated. Wendy tried her best to calm me down. Just as I was about to leave, Wendy persuaded me to stay a little longer to listen to Jenny sing. Shortly thereafter, Anh Tu went on stage and reintroduced Jenny along with an apology for the mix up. The sincerity in his voice was so convincing that Jenny readily agreed to walk back onto the stage. It made things calm down a bit. But I was still miffed. I thought to myself, "Well, Anh Tu cleared things up with Jenny. But what about me?"
A couple weeks went by before I would see Anh Tu again. I was still mad. But then on one Friday night, two weeks from that disastrous previous meeting with Anh Tu, my friend, Christopher, convinced me to swing by and hang out at the Can club. When I walked in, I saw that the club was rather empty. Christopher quickly saw Anh Tu sitting at the table with other singers and suggested that we go over to say hi. I told him that I'd rather not and proceeded to the bar counter to talk with Wendy. As I drank and talked with Wendy, I noticed Anh Tu passing by me a few times. Christopher kept coming back and forth from Anh Tu's table to the bar counter to tell me that Anh Tu really wanted to talk to me. I responded by saying, "Well, tell him to come over to me. Why should I come to him?" A few minutes later, the situation between myself and Anh Tu only got worse when he got on stage and sang "Aline". I thought to myself, "Oh, that does it! How dare he sing my song? After what happened a few weeks ago, I'm really going to give it to him."
When he got down from the stage, Anh Tu walked over to the bar counter where I sat. He ordered two beers and brought them over to me. He handed one to me and said, "You must be Thien Phu." Just when I was about ready to really give it to him, Anh Tu flashed his dazzling smile at me and that was it. He went on to explain how he didn't know that I had introduced Jenny Trang on stage that night, given how crowded and noisy it was at the Can club that night, and that he had been instructed to introduce another singer by the band since there was no emcee. From that moment on, we became the best of friends.
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| Anh Tu and Thien Phu. |
There have been three people that have been most influential throughout my career as a singer; Ngoc Lan, Julie Quang and of course, Anh Tu. Both Ngoc Lan and Julie had been my idols. Anh Tu, on the other hand, I had met as a colleague at first. But the more I got to know him, the more I realized there is just no one like him. Anh Tu had a way of making everyone around him feel comfortable and laughing constantly with his jokes. I remember once he made me laugh so uncontrollably right before I got on stage to do a song, I couldn't stop laughing and had to walk off the stage during the middle of the song. That was Anh Tu.
Throughout the course of our friendship, Anh Tu showed me his kindness and generosity by always giving me the best advice both in the music business and in life. When it was time for me to record my debut album, Tiec Nho, Anh Tu was one of the driving forces behind it. He said, "You must put yourself out there. How the hell will anyone ever hear of Thien Phu unless you do an album?" That got me to thinking. That is why I'm forever grateful to him. To me, he was more like family. He was always there for me whenever I needed him every minute of the day. There never was any rivalry what so ever between Anh Tu and myself. On one particular weekend, coincidentally Anh Tu and I both had separate bookings to perform in Seattle. Anh Tu and his sister, Khanh Ha, were headlining at some hotel in Seattle that weekend, while I was singing at the Palace nightclub. Just to show how wonderful he was, right before the trip Anh Tu and I went shopping for clothes and he picked out the outfit for me to wear. On the night of that performance, when I got back to the hotel, Anh Tu telephoned me to ask if everything went alright with my performance and to make sure that I wore the outfit he had selected. That just goes to show just how wonderful and caring of a person Anh Tu was.
The day Anh Tu died was probably one of the worst days of my life. I remember receiving a telephone call from Viet Dzung with the startling news. I dropped everything and rushed over to UCI Medical Center to be there with him. I didn't want to believe what I had just heard. After I parked my car, I saw Tuan Ngoc and his wife, Thai Thao, exiting the hospital with his father, Mr. Lu Lien. I looked at Tuan Ngoc and asked, "How is he?" I'll never forget the look in his eyes when he said, "I'm sorry, Phu. He's gone!" I couldn't help but burst into tears and put my arms around him. I ran into the hospital to Anh Tu's room hoping what they just told me was a lie. But it wasn't. He was indeed gone.
Part of me to this day still can't believe that Anh Tu has died. I still hear his voice momentarily. I feel his spirit. In my heart, Anh Tu has never left us and is always surrounding me everywhere I go. I truly miss him.
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