Ne Me Quitte Pas

A lot of singers tend to have a particular song that he or she is associated with.  For me, I've noticed it has been Ne Me Quitte Pas.  I find it a complete honor to be associated with this song.  In my opinion, there have been quite a few other Vietnamese singers who have recorded fantastic renditions of this song.  I am quite flattered to be considered among the singers whose names are linked to this classic love song.

When I first became truly engrossed with this song was after I heard Bach Yen's rendition on her album, Souvenir.  I had always liked this song in the past and had also enjoyed countless other versions recorded by the likes of other artists such as Don Ho, Ngoc Lan and Carol Kim.  It had also been one of the many songs I often had performed on stage at my live shows.  But after hearing Bach Yen being interviewed on the radio by Viet Dzung one day where she was plugging her latest CD, I was then really taken aback.  Something about what she had said about how a singer must really have gone through such pain and agony in his or her love life in order to sing this song with enough feeling.  Since I happened to be experiencing some personal sadness at the time with a heartbreak in my own life, that was what had prompted me to record this song for my first album.  

After Sy Dan had finished the arrangements for this song, my first intentions were to record it in all three languages:  French, English and Vietnamese.   After a few takes at Cong Truc's studio, I was still dissatisfied.  That was when I realized that I wasn't that crazy about the English lyrics that had been written for the English version, If You Go Away.  I started to listen more to Jacques Brel's original version and began to finally appreciate just how powerful his performance of the song was.  The original French lyrics were indeed deeper and way more heartfelt than the lyrics written in English.  And since Pham Duy's lyrics were written based on translation of the lyrics in English, the same could be said with the Vietnamese lyrics.  That's when I decided to re-record the song without the English version, and only in French and Vietnamese.  I then turned to Alan Nguyen to finish out the recording for this song.  I must say, I am forever indebted to Alan Nguyen.  He had helped me so much through the production of the album, Tiec Nho, and particularly with this song.  He is simply amazing.  He coached me step by step with this song.  I really couldn't have done it without him.  

After three weeks, I finally finished recording Ne Me Quitte Pas.  Before the album was released, I was already happy to hear that my two most difficult critics other than myself, Anh Tu and Julie Quang, were pleased with my recording of Ne Me Quitte Pas.  During the week before the album was finally out in the market, I had sent a copy to Pham Long of Little Saigon Radio.  After he played it, I remember him making a comment of how this was a rather difficult song to sing and how he was really impressed that a young singer such as myself was able to give such a heartfelt delivery.  A few days after that I had heard from Bien Tinh Productions that my recorded version of Ne Me Quitte Pas had been one of the most requested songs on both Little Saigon Radio on 1480 AM and Radio Saigon Cali Hai Ngoai on 106.3 FM.  And then to have Viet Dzung write an article on Hon Viet Magazine praising about the song and my recorded version of it, I was just overwhelmed with excitement and truly flattered.  

Since then, Ne Me Quitte Pas has been one of my most requested songs from audience members at my live shows.  I really enjoy singing this song.  It just never gets old for me.  I still find it an honor to hear how fans have associated my name with this song.  Afterall, it is one of my favorite love songs of all time.

Thien Phu

Does Anyone Know Where Singer Ngoc Hue Is?

Back in the 1990s, among Vietnamese female singers who sing in the particular genre of music known as, "Nhac Tre", popular music for the younger generation, the three hottest new rising stars were Thanh Ha, Tu Quyen and a singer that had left her home in Australia in 1991 to take up permanent residence in Southern California named Ngoc Hue.

Ngoc Hue

In the Vietnamese community of Australia, Ngoc Hue had already established a name for herself as a singer.  Like Cong Thanh & Lynn, the popular  Australian/ Vietnamese married couple and singing duo prior to resettling here in the United States, Ngoc Hue had dreams of furthering her career as an overseas Vietnamese singer in the United States and was well aware of how much of a gamble that was at stake upon making the decision to leave the comforts of Australia's smaller, close-knit Vietnamese community and the challenges of having to start all over in a land faraway.  With a total population that barely exceeds 150,000, the Vietnamese community of Australia is one of the most affluent and thriving communities of overseas Vietnamese in the entire world.  The largest concentration of Vietnamese-Australians lies within the metropolitan area of Sydney also known as Little Saigon.  It is in this community that houses a small yet vibrant Vietnamese entertainment industry where for many years, Ngoc Hue had enjoyed a singing career that consisted of steady work and a status of being one of its key players.  An integral part of the Vietnamese community of Australia's performance arts industry included concert events that featured headlining overseas Vietnamese performers from other regions of the world, primarily the United States and France.  At these shows, Ngoc Hue would share the stage with these headliners who had traveled to Australia from faraway.  She would often spark the attention of some of the biggest names among Vietnamese entertainers that would tour in Australia.  It was only a matter of time that Ngoc Hue would eventually make her way across the Pacific Ocean to Southern California, the region with the world's largest overseas Vietnamese population and considered as the unofficial capital of the Vietnamese entertainment industry.  In 1991, Ngoc Hue's acceptance of an invitation to tour the United States which would ultimately lead to her decision of relocating here permanently came as of no accident, but as part of a long, anticipated dream of hers that was about to come true.

When she first arrived in the United States, Ngoc Hue was already prepped and poised for stardom.  I remember then as a fan of Vietnamese entertainment how she had been welcomed in a manner quite similar to that of a proper Hollywood welcome, complete with the rolling out of the red carpet upon her arrival.  Ngoc Hue was blessed with physical beauty, a trademark that is often regarded with equal if not greater weight than one's singing ability in the Vietnamese entertainment industry. Therefor, her pictures were soon enough blasted everywhere from magazine covers to flyers to even calendars.  Almost immediately after her arrival, she could be seen doing interviews on television to promote her debut studio album.  This would be followed with appearances on video, as she would grace the Paris By Night stage along with making other appearances for Nhat Ha Productions.  It was evident that Ngoc Hue was definitely on her way.  How big of a star she would become could only be determined by the audience along with the choices she would make for her future.

In a business as fickle as show business, no one can predict what lies ahead for the careers of each and every individual artist.  Having been in the business, myself, I have learned that what can transform a performer into a star really all depends on a combination of three key factors.  All 100% of these three key factors, in my opinion, are essential in turning a singer into a star.  Anything short of that just won't do.  Of course, one has to have talent.  That is a given.  And so, I'd say that talent would account for 50% of that formula. The next factor has to do with knowing the right people and having the right connections in order to acquire the proper exposure needed to promote one's self.  Out of the two key factors left, I'd say that would account for 30%.  Promotion is one very crucial aspect in turning a performer into a star.  Think about it, a singer could have the best voice, but if the general audience was never able to hear his or her voice, how could that artist ever get anywhere?   But even with the right amount of exposure and promotion needed, still there are no guarantees that an artist would become a star without the third key factor.  And that would be luck, which would account for 20% to round out the completion of this equation.  I've often wondered what was it that had stood in the way of Ngoc Hue becoming a big star in the ranks of Luu Bich, Y Lan, or even her two peers, Thanh Ha and Tu Quyen.  Ngoc Hue had gotten a head start years before the other two when she first came onto the scene back in 1991.  Surely, she has the talent, as well as the stage presence, and as I had pointed out from the time when she first arrived here from Australia, she also had the connections with the right people to give her the initial exposure and promotion needed in order to boost her career, .  If compared to Thanh Ha, it can be said that Ngoc Hue at first seemed like she had the upper hand given how she is full-blooded Vietnamese versus how Thanh Ha is not only racially mixed but also doesn't look at all Vietnamese, which can definitely be a disadvantage considering how conservative and homogeneous the Vietnamese culture is.  I personally haven't experienced that myself, but it is an undeniable fact that many Eurasians and Amerasians have been targets of unjust discrimination in Vietnamese society.  But I guess in Thanh Ha's case, the fact that she happens to be so beautiful, her being racially mixed with European blood seemed to have worked to her advantage and perhaps proven to be instrumental through her journey to stardom.  In comparison to Tu Quyen, Ngoc Hue also has greater stage presence.  Ngoc Hue's features are much more defined and striking whereas Tu Quyen has more of a passive, wholesome girl-next-door look. Yet by 1994, the year in which both Thanh Ha and Tu Quyen would be formally introduced onto the Vietnamese pop music scene, Thanh Ha first with her debut solo studio album recorded for Diem Xua Productions entitled, Mot Doi Xin Nho Mai (The Power of Love), then Tu Quyen before the end of the year with her debut album backed by Eagle Productions, Nu Cuoi Xa Vang, Ngoc Hue would be outshined by both of these new rising stars.

Perhaps it was the career choices that Ngoc Hue had made that had prevented her from becoming a superstar.  Take for example, when Ngoc Hue had first started out she performed regularly at a nightclub in Orange County called the Can Club, which was also where Thanh Ha and myself had gotten our start.  As Thanh Ha's popularity grew, she moved up to become a regular performer at the Diamond Club in Fullerton, then the Ritz and finally the Majestic Club until her busy touring schedule with out of town gigs became so full that she could no longer commit to any local nightclub as a regular weekly performer.  When I first saw Tu Quyen perform in Orange County was on a night sponsored by Eagle Productions for her held at the Queen Bee nightclub sometime in the fall season of 1994.  A little over a year after that, Tu Quyen would become a contracted regular performer at the Ritz nightclub in the summer of 1996.  After a series of video appearances, just like Thanh Ha, Tu Quyen would also venture off to only touring at out of town gigs, which is far more lucrative than performing regularly at any local Orange County Vietnamese nightclub.  This is often the case with a lot of Vietnamese singers once they become famous.  Ngoc Hue, on the other hand, after releasing album after album and making video appearances on the Paris By Night stage, was still seen performing regularly at the Can Club by 1996.  Although she was able to get bookings to perform for live shows across the United States, as well as abroad in Europe and back in her former residence, Australia, her touring schedule was not anywhere near as booked as some of the other popular Vietnamese singers in demand.  Thanh Ha's rise to fame was as fast as a speeding bullet.  From the moment her solo studio album was released by Diem Xua Productions, she became a hot commodity instantaneously with other Vietnamese music video production companies.  Shortly thereafter, she could be seen on music videos produced by Diem Xua, Truong Thanh, and then ultimately as a contracted exclusive performer of Paris By Night produced by Thuy Nga Productions.  Tu Quyen had become the driving force behind Eagle Productions as her impressive record sales permitted the label to release a series of studio albums for the popular singer, while on video she would finally make her way to Paris By Night after several video appearances for Van Son Entertainment and Tinh Productions.  The fact that she was able to win the hearts of Vietnamese audiences with her signature rendition of a song called, Nu Hong Mong Manh, didn't hurt her career, either.  Long before either Thanh Ha or Tu Quyen had made their way onto the Paris By Night stage, Ngoc Hue had already made her Paris By Night video debut on volume 16 with a solo rendition of Alan Nguyen's Prisoner and in a duet with Don Ho, Hanh Phuc Trong Tim, back in 1992.  After several more times appearing on Paris By Night, Ngoc Hue faded into obscurity.  Her career seemed to have hit the ceiling instantaneously and had allowed her to form her own label, Fame Productions.  But after a series of mediocre albums and various recordings for other labels, it seemed as if Ngoc Hue's career could only at best remain stagnant from then on, and her production label would come to a close before it had even ever gotten itself off the ground.

I had worked alongside Ngoc Hue on several occasions, but never really got to talk that much with her.  Unlike a lot of singers, she seemed a bit more reserved.  During the course of several years since I first met Ngoc Hue, our total interactions were limited to just a casual hello and goodbye each time we were in the same room together.  Although she was always pleasant, I can't say I knew much about her other than our brief greetings we would give to one another.  When it came time for me to produce my album, Ngay Em Di, I had been given the suggestion by others in the singing business that I should feature a song or two recorded by a singer whose name was more established to go along with my recordings in order for to make the album more marketable.  Of course, Ngoc Hue's name had been mentioned as a possible suggestion.  I was quite hesitant to ask her for the simple fact that I really didn't know her all that well.  One of my biggest fears in life has always been rejection.  I'd hate to think of how I would have handled it if Ngoc Hue had turned down my invitation to record a song for my album.  And so, I waited and waited, which ultimately delayed the release of Ngay Em Di.  

The moment would finally come when I would muster up the courage to ask Ngoc Hue.  We were about to perform together at an engagement at the Crystal Palace Casino in Gardena, California. During rehearsals with the band before the show, Ngoc Hue turned to look at me and gave me a compliment on how I sang Crazy, a famous tune written by Willie Nelson and originally recorded by Patsy Cline .  That was the first time we actually had a conversation that lasted longer than "Hello, how are you?" after five years that I had known her.  I thought to myself, I better ask her now since I really don't have another five years to wait to release my next album.  So I did.  Luckily, she accepted.

While I was at the recording studio with Ngoc Hue, that was when she really earned my respect as an artist.  I must say she is definitely a perfectionist.  The recording session for Ngoc Hue with just one song, Pho Xa, took a total of eight hours and countless takes and retakes.  It wasn't because she couldn't get into the song.  As a matter of fact, I felt that she had already nailed it the first time through.  But being the perfectionist that she is, Ngoc Hue had to do it over and over again until her biggest critic, which happens to be none other than herself, was finally satisfied.  And that was just with the primary vocals track which took up a good five hours.  After that came the two tracks for background vocals that she would handle all by herself that took up the remaining three hours.  Now that's impressive.  I remember how Tung Giang who was the recording engineer had grown really tired and sleepy after so many hours of this recording session.  Both Ngoc Hue and I had noticed how his eyes had become so droopy, we suggested that he should take a break.  I was about to fall asleep myself.  But Ngoc Hue really amazed me as she got right back into the sound proof room with the remote control recording device in hand and proceecded to complete the recording of Pho Xa all by herself.  Now that's a trouper.

I couldn't have been happier when I heard the finished product of Ngoc Hue's recording of Pho Xa, written by Le Quoc Thang,  There wasn't a single flaw I could point out with Ngoc Hue's performance of that song.  That was why I had chosen it to be the first song on the Ngay Em Di album.  Ngoc Hue was gracious enough to attend and perform at the CD release event I had put together held at the Majestic during November of 1999.  After that, we worked with each other on a couple of occasions, but never really got as close to where I can say we were actually friends.  I liked her.  But to this day, I can't say I know much about Ngoc Hue.

It has been at least six years since I've heard anything about Ngoc Hue, and even longer since the last time I spoke to her.  I've asked around and nobody seems to know her whereabouts.  Recently I found her on Facebook, but the last time there had been any activity on her account was back in 2010.  I came up with the same result searching her name on Youtube.com where the latest posting of Ngoc Hue was of a live performance she had done back in her old hometown of Sydney, Australia in 2010. From what I saw, she looked pretty much the same.  Perhaps a little older, but still beautiful as ever.  I hope everything is okay in her life.  Too often, I've had reason to worry whenever any of my colleagues in the singing business had faded into obscurity.  I certainly hope this is not the case with Ngoc Hue.  If anyone out there knows, please notify me with either a comment or private message.  I'm sure that many of her fans are equally concerned of her whereabouts and hope that she's doing okay.

Link(s):

Ngoc Hue - Pho Xa on YouTube

Update:  Ngoc Hue has been found!  Sometime in the afternoon yesterday while surfing the net, I stumbled across a thread on the MauTam.net forum which featured Ngoc Hue's latest interview.  She's back in town.  For a more detailed synopsis of the interview, click on the following link to read my article I had posted here on ThienPhu-VietSinger.BlogSpot.com.
(April 2, 2015)

Link(s):
                                                                                       
Update on Ngoc Hue:  She's Been Found!

I Should Have Never Recorded That Song!

For years I've been told my several of my friends who happen to also be in the singing business that I have this one very bad habit at times.  And that is, I've had a tendency to make wrong selections on songs to record or sing live.  What happens is I'll hear a song recorded or performed by some other singer who did such a great job, for some reason I'll automatically want to take that song and sing it myself, thinking that I'll give the song equal justice.  Well, that's not always the case, regrettably.

During my trip back to Vietnam in the summer of 1998, I attended the concert of a local singer there named Thu Ha.  I had heard from several colleagues prior to this trip for many years such as Jenny Trang, Hoang Dung and Dai Trang, all rave about how fantastic this singer, Thu Ha, is.  So I had to go see her myself.  Now keep in mind, this singer is not to be confused with Tran Thu Ha, who is also extremely talented.  Thu Ha is another singer in Vietnam with an extremely powerful voice, not like those who scream and yell like Siu Black or Phuong Thanh but just naturally powerful.  At the night of her concert, I was just overtaken by Thu Ha's performance.  My friends were right.  She is amazing.

I saw a lot of qualities in Thu Ha quite similar to one of my other idols, Khanh Ha.  As a matter of fact, she did sound a lot like Khanh Ha with several of the songs she performed live that night.  Even on some of her recordings, Thu Ha sounded like an exact replica of Khanh Ha.  That didn't impress me much.  I've always thought singers should have their own unique style, rather than impersonating someone else who had come before them.  It's okay to borrow bits and pieces here and there from other singers.  We've all done that.  I certainly have, myself.  However, let's say if I'm going to listen to a singer that sounds exactly like another singer, why not just listen to one out of the two?  Does anyone share my sentiment on this matter?

Thu Ha

Anyway, when I watched Thu Ha sing live, I was really impressed.  She was a bit edgier than Khanh Ha in many ways.  I liked how how gutsy she is as a live performer, not afraid to improvise and experiment with her vocal acrobatics.  That is something completely different from Khanh Ha.  On one particular song she did that night that just blew me away was Tra No Tinh Xa written by Tuan Khanh.  I was so enthralled by her performance of this song that I had never heard of before, I just had to barge in on her backstage and pay her a compliment.  That was when I found out Thu Ha was actually Chinese.  When I heard her talk to another person in what sounded like Cantonese, I was really shocked.  Most other singers of Chinese-Vietnamese descent that I've known in the past all speak with a little twang when they speak Vietnamese and tend to sing in Chinese as well as Vietnamese such as Kim Anh, Tuan Dat, Lucia Kim Chi and more recently, Lam Truong.  Thu Ha spoke Vietnamese with no accent what so ever and hasn't recorded any songs in Chinese to my knowledge.  That was another thing I found impressive about her.

For the next several days, I couldn't get that song, Tra No Tinh Xa, out of my head.  Through an acquaintance I had just met in Saigon, the late musician and singer named Do Quang, I was given a compact disc that featured Thu Ha's studio recording of Tra No Tinh Xa.  I started listening to it religiously for the next several weeks.  When I got back to the United States, I contacted Vu Anh Tuan who was about to do the music arrangements for my next album, Ngay Em Di, about this particular song.  I became his biggest headache insisting he hurry up and finish the arrangements for it.  Never mind about the other songs, I've just got to record this song first.  Now that I think about it, Vu Anh Tuan often gave me a hesitant look each time I talked about this song, which I now know meant that he had been fully aware of how my voice was just not compatible for it.  But being the nice guy he is, he went ahead and did the arrangements anyway.  When it was ready for me to record in the studio, Alan Nguyen also expressed to me his reservations.  Knowing how stubborn I can be, I guess everyone just backed down and let me go ahead with my decision.  Once in the studio, I quickly found out that my decision to record Tra No Tinh Xa was not a good one.  It took me a total of 3 weeks, 7 long recording sessions to finally finish the damn song.  The end result proved that what everyone around me had been trying to tell me was actually true.  I should have just left this song alone.  I mean, what was I thinking?

Amazingly, since the release of Ngay Em Di which included Tra No Tinh Xa, I've received some positive feedback from some of the fans on my delivery of this song.   Even at my live performances, I've had fans come up to me requesting me to sing this song.  Of course, I'm very grateful.  But at the same time, I feel like asking these fans, "Are you serious?"  A few months after the release of Ngay Em Di, I ran into the late musician,Tung Giang, at a CD release party for Phi Nhung.  He put it best when he jokingly told me what he thought about my recording of Tra No Tinh Xa.  He said, "Don't worry, kid.  If Phi Nhung can record Trong Vang, then why shouldn't Thien Phu record Tra No Tinh Xa?"  Ouch!  That hurt.

Link(s) to This Post:

  Tra No Tinh Xa - Thien Phu

Thien Phu Biography Part Two by Anonymous Contributing Author and Myself

With the encouragement from several Vietnamese singers he had befriended, particularly Julie (Julie Quang) and the late Anh Tu, Thien Phu decided to record his first CD sometime in the mid 1990s. What would take a total of almost 2 years to produce in which Thien Phu had collaborated with some of the biggest names among Vietnamese musicians including the late legendary, Tung Giang, Alan Nguyen and Sy Dan would finally be released under the label, Bien Tinh Productions, in the spring of 1998, entitled Tiec Nho (Missing). This album would also feature tracks recorded by 3 other contributing fellow artists:  Julie, Anh Tu, and Thai Thao. This debut album for Thien Phu sold quite well within the overseas Vietnamese communities worldwide. Part of its success had to do with the heavy rotation of airplay that had been given to several of the tracks Thien Phu had recorded on the album, in particular a cover of a Jacques Brel penned, timeless classic, Ne Me Quitte Pas.  Pham Long, a well known radio personality for Little Saigon Radio Broadcasting Network, had taken an instant liking to Thien Phu's version of the song, in which Thien Phu had recorded in both the original lyrics in French, as well as the translated Vietnamese lyrics written by the late legendary Vietnamese composer, Pham Duy. Soon after, other Vietnamese language radio programs would also began giving airplay for Thien Phu's recorded songs from this debut album. The airplay would reach Vietnamese audiences in the 3 major regions with the highest Vietnamese populations of the United States; Orange County in Southern California, San Jose in Northern California, and Houston, Texas, giving Thien Phu a much wider exposure to the Vietnamese music scene. That along with a series of radio interviews and several appearances on Vietnamese language produced television shows to further promote the album greatly enhanced Thien Phu's popularity as a singer. Among other tracks on the album included covers of French popular songs such as Aline, Magic Boulevard, both of which were recorded by Thien Phu and the Edith Piaf signature classic, La Vie En Rose, recorded by Julie (formerly known as Julie Quang) in an upbeat, modified new up-tempo arrangement by Sy Dan.

After the release of Tiec Nho, Thien Phu embarked on a busy touring schedule performing at live shows for Vietnamese audiences throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Europe and Australia. The success of this debut album was what prompted Bien Tinh Productions to put together a sold-out show held at the Majestic Nightclub in Orange County to formally introduce Thien Phu to the Vietnamese audience of the Little Saigon community. It was during the night of that performance when Thien Phu first accepted the invitation from New York Night Productions to make his debut appearance on music video.

As a follow up after his debut album, Bien Tinh Productions had planned a duet album with Thanh Ha for Thien Phu. For a recording artist recently introduced onto the Vietnamese pop music scene such as Thien Phu, to be paired up with another artist of Thanh Ha's caliber at the time would be a highly anticipated opportunity. However, due to scheduling conflicts, the project was ultimately cancelled. This was a major setback for Thien Phu. On an interview for VOV Radio on 96.7FM, Thien Phu said, "I was really looking forward to working with Thanh Ha. Think about it, a duet album featuring two Amerasian singers together. But I understand that she was under contract with Thuy Nga at the time and couldn't commit to another production label. It would have been a great experience since not only was [Thanh Ha] one of my favorite singers, she was also my friend."

Several offers from various Vietnamese labels would pour in for Thien Phu to make his next album toward the end of 1998. But Thien Phu had turned each one of them down because he had wanted complete artistic control. During this time, Thien Phu was mourning the loss of one of his closest friends, singer and owner of Empire Nightclub in Dallas, Texas, Michelle Diem My, who had died mysteriously in a fire during the summer of 1998.

"Losing Michelle [Diem My] was like losing a sister. We were so close, like brother and sister. Everywhere she and I travelled to together to do our live shows, because we were so close, we often shared the same bed. It was shocking to lose such a good friend that unexpectedly.

"I remember the day I received the chilling news that she had just died. I was in Vietnam on a trip with singer Julie Quang and Bébé Hoang Anh, Viet Dzung's wife. Michelle had originally planned to go with us on this trip. But just three days before we were all supposed to meet up in Los Angeles to board the plane together, she called me on the telephone to say she wouldn't be able to make the trip. And then the next thing I knew, early one morning while in Vietnam we receive a telegram from Viet Dzung saying Michelle had just been killed in a fire", said Thien Phu.

"I couldn't believe it. I thought, this must have been some joke. But when Bebe looked at me and said that since Michelle was Viet Dzung's cousin, he of all people would know and that this was no joke, I just started to cry helplessly."

In mourning over the untimely death of one of his closest friends, Thien Phu managed to turn the devastation into inspiration for his next studio album, Ngay Em Di, literally translated to "The Day You Left". Thien Phu's second album would be released in the fall of the following year to round out the decade. Like his debut album, the release of Ngay Em Di would also be followed by a sold out show held at the Majestic, hosted by Viet Dzung.

Unlike the previous album with all the backings from Bien Tinh Productions, Thien Phu's sophomore effort was a project he decided to produce and release himself. Sales of Thien Phu's second album failed to match the success of the previous debut album. Nevertheless, he would continue to tour extensively for the next couple of years.

The beginning of the new millennium for Thien Phu was met with a series of tragedies in his personal life. In 2000, Thien Phu experienced the death of his grandmother, Marie Nguyen, to whom he was rather close to.

"My grandmother was very influential in my life. She was very strong. When I think about it, it was probably she who had given me the encouragement and mental support that I needed to become an entertainer," he said.

Marie Nguyen, Thien Phu's grandmother, had been a well respected businesswoman from Saigon, South Vietnam. She had been owner of the famous Au Ma Cabane Cabaret Nightclub in Saigon that featured nightly live entertainment from some of the biggest names among Vietnamese singers. Among the list of regular performers at Au Ma Cabane were Thai Thanh, Thanh Lan, Jo Marcel, Duy Quang, Giao Linh and the late Jeannie Mai, who was also Thien Phu's aunt at one point by marriage. In a sense, it can be said that Thien Phu had come from a showbiz family.

Following the death of his grandmother, Thien Phu was met with yet another blow the following year with the passing of one of his idols, singer Ngoc Lan. But another tragedy would be in store for Thien Phu, less than 2 years after when singer Anh Tu suddenly passed away on December of 2003. Anh Tu had been one of the most influential people in Thien Phu's life, as well as in his career. It was all too much for Thien Phu to take, and consequentially prompted his decision to leave the singing business.

"I really don't deal well with death, I've noticed. Some people can do it. But for me, I can't just pick up the pieces after the loss of someone dear to me and just move on like nothing has ever happened. When Anh Tu passed, I felt as if I was all alone in the world. For so long, I had relied heavily on his guidance with my singing career. Since his passing, I felt like nobody was there to critique me each time I got on stage. It was if I no longer had a purpose to sing," said Thien Phu.

Thien Phu then decided to leave his singing career and focused into returning to college. He found work as a bartender at a high end sushi restaurant in Newport Beach while he successfully completed his studies earning a degree in English at Cal State Lon Beach. Although he was content with his life away from the spotlight as a singer, momentarily Thien Phu would find himself reminiscing of his past in the field of entertainment. There was definitely something missing in his life.

After a 7 years hiatus, Thien Phu would make his return to the stage. This came about after meeting up with a former colleague, singer Randy, while Thien Phu attended the funeral of another colleague and old friend, singer Luu Quoc Viet, in the spring of 2008. After an exchange of phone numbers, Randy telephoned Thien Phu with an invitation to perform at a sold out show for Amerasians in Oklahoma City. A series of other live performances would quickly follow including a successful engagement in Paris, France during the summer of 2009. And Thien Phu, once again, had been caught with the singing buzz.

Recently, Thien Phu has completed shooting a pair of music videos for Viet Star Productions. He is currently also working on a new solo album that should be out later in 2014.

"It's great to be back after so many years away from the spotlight. I've realized one thing, and that is... I really love to sing. It's such a rush how I get to wear beautiful clothes and perform on stage for people everywhere. I just love it. Come to think of it, there's nothing else I'd rather do than sing. Without it, I'd probably be dead."