Julie and Me

I remember the first time I saw Julie Quang, the famous Vietnamese singer, was on a television weekly show called Vietnam Program which aired each Saturday morning on KSCI, channel 18.  I was about 14 years old at the time and hadn't really gotten into Vietnamese music all that much yet.   Having left Vietnam at such a young age and lived in the United States for so many years, I had been Americanized and like many typical Vietnamese-American kids I had found Vietnamese music altogether rather boring.  Each week I would see Vietnamese singer after Vietnamese singer appearing on television singing the saddest songs, wearing "ao dai" after "ao dai", our Vietnamese traditional dress for women's attire, and looking so lifeless as they each would stand still, almost motionless while lip-synching to the lyrics.  Not to discredit the following artists, but I had gotten really tired of seeing Huong Lan, Khanh Ly, and Thanh Thuy week after week doing basically the same thing over and over again as they appeared as the special guests during the music segment of the weekly show.  Just when I was about to give up on the possibility of acquiring any interest in Vietnamese music and performing arts, one day I saw Julie's performance on Vietnam Program covering a French popular song, Enrico Macias' classic, Paris, Tu M'as Pris Dans Tes Bras,  my perspective on Vietnamese entertainers changed completely.

Unlike the rest of the Vietnamese singers I had seen before, Julie stood out with a distinct look and sound of her own.  Instead of wearing an "ao dai", Julie appeared dressed as a French male waiter with a drawn-on mustache for the first half of the music video and then changes into an elegant evening gown for the second half.  I loved how natural her gestures were as she mouthed the words in French and Vietnamese.  She looked so beautiful and chic.  And then there was her singing voice, so likable, yet so unique.  But what really caught my attention about Julie was the fact that she really didn't look Vietnamese.  I remember asking my mother, what is she?  Is she Vietnamese?  South American?  Italian?  She can't be Vietnamese.  My mother answered to me, "She's just like you.  A mixed Vietnamese."

My mother would later on tell me about how she had known Julie from way back in the day in Saigon, South Vietnam prior to 1975.  You see, my grandmother back in Vietnam had owned a popular cabaret nightclub in Saigon called Au Ma Cabane where many famous Vietnamese singers performed there nightly.  Among the line-up of regular performers was a Vietnamese pop music group known as the Dreamers, which were comprised mainly of the children of the late legendary Vietnamese composer, Pham Duy. The group started out with two lead vocalists.  Duy Quang, Pham Duy's oldest son,  the group's male lead vocalist and his then girlfriend, a beautiful half-Indian, half-Vietnamese girl named Julie,  the group's female lead vocalist.  The Dreamers first found their success performing at clubs and music venues around Saigon which catered to primarily US military personnel and civilians whom were either stationed or working in Vietnam, respectively, during the years of the US involvement in the Vietnam War.  Upon becoming Duy Quang's bride, Julie would then become known as Julie Quang.

Julie Quang and Duy Quang during a performance in Saigon, 1970.

By the time of the Dreamers' collaboration at my grandmother's nightclub, Au Ma Cabane, Julie Quang had gone solo after she had achieved stardom with her recording of Mua Thu Chet, a song that had been penned by her father-in-law, Pham Duy, and was inspired by the French poem, "L'adieu", by Guillaume Apollinaire.  Julie Quang was then one of the headliners as a solo act at a larger nightclub in Saigon called the Ritz and only occasionally would appear with the Dreamers over at Au Ma Cabane, since the group's new female lead vocalist was now Duy Quang's younger sister, Thai Hien.  According to my mother, what she remembered of Julie Quang back in the day was that she was "incredibly beautiful', that she "looked like a French or Italian girl" despite of her being of part Vietnamese and part Indian mixed origin , and that "Duy Quang was one lucky man to have landed her."

My friendship with Julie would begin while I had already gone into the singing profession.  I had been a tremendous fan of her music for many years before we actually met.  From that moment I had first watched Julie on television, I was a die-hard fan.  From that French song she sang on television led me to many other of Julie's recordings I would come to love.  I started collecting all of the cassettes that Julie had appeared on, whether it be her solo albums or her recordings on compilation cassettes featuring various artists produced by Asia Productions, Kim Ngan, Da Lan, etc.  Especially on those compilation cassettes featuring various artists, I would find myself often taking a liking to the songs recorded by Julie the most on each cassette.  I loved the way she sang in French, particularly her cover renditions of  "Chanson d'Orphee", "Qui Sait", "Une Femme a 40 Ans", "Parlez Moi de Lui", "Cheri", "Tu Te Reconnaitras", "Une Femme d'Aujourdhui".  And the list goes on and on.  Among her solo studio albums that had been released during the 1980s, "Ngan Nam Van Doi", released in 1987, and "Vao Thu Nua Doi", released in 1989, I had loved so much that I had to buy several copies after they were worn out from being played and replayed repetitively on a daily basis.  After so many years idolizing Julie and her music, one could just imagine how thrilling it was when I finally got to meet her.

I'll never forget the first night I met Julie.  Actually, we had met a few times in the past whenever I had gone to watch her perform at her live shows.  At these shows, I would make it a point to come up and greet  her with compliments just like the rest of her fans.  But this would be our first meeting where we had an actual conversation.  It was sometime in the fall of 1995.  I was singing at bars, coffee shops, and weddings with a local band.  Occasionally I would fill in for more established singers at the bigger nightclubs such as the Queen Bee and the Majestic whenever they were out of town touring.  Every time I would get a call to fill in for one of the singers at any of the nightclubs, I would jump at the opportunity because I had been told that by singing at these places would give me better exposure that I needed to further my singing career than I would singing at bars and coffee shops.  One of those nights at the Queen Bee would also be an event held in honor of Viet Hung, the late legendary performer of Vietnamese opera known as "cai luong".  It was a star studded event, as all the famous overseas Vietnamese singers were in attendance.  Among them was Julie.

Huy Khanh, the late famous Vietnamese film actor and singer from back in the day in Saigon, was manager of the Queen Bee nightclub and also whom I had affectionately referred to as  "Dad" was the person who introduced me to Julie that night.  I was really nervous and really didn't expect her to be so warm and welcoming.  We immediately exchanged numbers that night.  From then on a close friendship between Julie and myself was firmly established and continues to this day.

We've gone through a lot during the years of our friendship.  She experienced the death of her mother.  I experienced the loss of my grandmother.  Together, we both experienced the loss of another performer, Anh Tu, whom was also a close friend of Julie's.  We've been at times like mother and son.  When I think about it, she has been like a second mother to me.  Julie was generous enough to have contributed a song on my debut album, "La Vie En Rose", in which she had sung beautifully in both Vietnamese and French.  One of the things Julie taught me, which I'll never forget was when I'm in the recording studio, I should sing from the heart while standing still rather than to act it in animation.  For those who know me personally, that's something I tend to do, which is I speak with my hands.  Three people I'll always hold dear to my heart for helping me during the production of my first album, the late Anh Tu, Alan Nguyen, and of course, Julie.

It's been a while since Julie has participated in the music industry.  For the most part, Julie is pretty much retired from singing.  Not because her fans no longer exist.  Believe me, her fans have stayed loyal to her.  I hear her music being played all the time whenever I'm at a Vietnamese restaurant.  I tell her all the time that her fans are waiting for her return to the stage.  Her response usually is, maybe someday.  All I can say is, don't make us wait too long. 

Thien Phu and Julie