My Teacher Known as the Timeless Voice

I am very proud to say that I had once been a student of the legendary Vietnamese singer, Thai Thanh.  I am tremendously indebted to her for all that she had taught me.  It wasn't so much with vocal techniques, but what she had taught me was extremely crucial in becoming a Vietnamese singer.  She taught me how to appreciate the beauty in Vietnamese music and also how to sing in Vietnamese correctly.

During the year of 1994, I had enrolled in Thai Thanh's vocals class in Westminster, California.  Each week that I attended her class, I learned something new.  She was an amazing teacher to me.  It really came of no surprise to me since I had always known of what a great legendary Vietnamese songstress she was.  But what I really appreciated about her as my teacher was her patience, her insistence on being a perfectionist and her generosity in sharing with me some of her wisdom.  I guess you can say that she wasn't really a voice teacher, but more of a voice coach.  Thai Thanh's classes were on a one-on-one basis, where she coached her students and assisted them in finding their way in fine tuning their own styles of singing.  That was something that singers who were just starting out such as myself back then really needed.

One of my biggest challenges when I first began to sing in Vietnamese was pronunciation.  Although I was able to speak Vietnamese like a native speaker, of course, I had difficulties when making the transition from speaking to singing.  Since I come from a family that speaks in a Southern Vietnamese dialect, it took me quite a bit of time and practice to learn how to sing in the Northern dialect.  And of course, what better teacher could I have asked for but Thai Thanh, herself, to help me with learning how to sing in the Northern Vietnamese dialect correctly?  In many of my sessions with Thai Thanh were focused on just that, pronunciation, rather than vocals.  And I couldn't be more grateful.  I started to even realize just how even more valuable her lessons were when I started to record professionally in Vietnamese.  I don't think I could have ever gone through with it if I hadn't had Thai Thanh as my teacher.

Besides my fondness of Thai Thanh for having been my teacher at one time, I'm also an admirer of her as a legendary Vietnamese singer.  In Vietnamese popular music, she has been hailed as the Timeless Voice, Tieng Hat Vuot Thoi Gian.  And I must say, out of all the Vietnamese singers throughout the history of Vietnamese popular music, Thai Thanh definitely is deserving of such a title.

Facebook Dilemma

Hi there, friends!  These past several days, I've been trying my best to catch up with a schedule that I had set up for myself to manage all five of my blogsites that are currently running and hosted by Blogger.  Just by glancing at the schedule at times, the amount of work with so many articles I had assigned for myself to write seems quite overwhelming.  But I can't really complain or place the blame on anyone but myself.  Afterall, it was I who had created this schedule.  I am the culprit, as well as the willing, participating victim.

On Tuesday, my schedule would come across a screeching halt, as I was forced to be held back from posting my list of articles I had planned for my blogsites when I came across a disturbing dilemma with my Facebook account.  I first learned of this dilemma sometime early in the morning that day.  As I would usually do with all my other articles once posted on any of my websites, I would read them over and then share them on my accounts and pages set up on other social media network websites such as Pinterest, Twitter, Google Plus and Facebook.  After posting an article I had just written on Amerasian/ Eurasian Forum about Hollywood actress Olivia Munn, I then realized that I had been blocked from such activities on Facebook like posting, sharing and sending private messages due to some inappropriate activities that had recently taken place on my account.  Right then, I knew that my account had been hacked.  It had been about a two or three days since I had last logged onto my Facebook account, so really, how could any inappropriate activities have taken place?

It took a while for me to finally get into my Facebook account, since this time whoever that had hacked my account really went to extremes to take over my identity and and seal me off from ever accessing my account on Facebook again. This has happened before, but never quite as frustrating as this time around.  Everything had been changed and modified with my personal information on Facebook except my name, it seemed.  Where I lived was now in Hanoi, Vietnam, where I worked was for some organization based out of Hanoi, my password, my email address, just about everything I had originally entered as my personal information had been changed which made it nearly impossible for Facebook to contact me given how the two email addresses that I have been using for years had been wiped out.  Even the language was changed from English to Vietnamese on my Facebook account.  That probably was what presented my biggest obstacle when trying to regain access.  English is my primary language and what I consider to be my native language as well, despite how it technically isn't my first language.  I had learned both Vietnamese and French years before I began speaking English, and even though I am still able to speak these two languages today, in comparison to my level of command in the English language I can only say that I'm now on a communicative level of proficiency in Vietnamese and French, whereas English would be by far the language I'm most comfortable with.   One can only imagine just how challenging it was for me to follow the step by step instructions all in Vietnamese in order to regain access on Facebook, as I didn't even know what the Vietnamese term for the word "password" is.  It took me hours before I was finally granted access back into my Facebook account.  But even then, my problems on Facebook with this hacker were far from over.  I thought that once I was able to reset successfully a new password that my Facebook account would be secured and the hacker would then be blocked from any further activities.  But that wasn't the case.  Each of the three times I would change my password, within seconds I'd see more and more private messages and/ or postings sent out by this hacker to my list of friends on Facebook that contained pornographic material and the most offensive language.  What made it even worse was that Facebook still had my account frozen.  I was blocked from using any such features like posting, sharing and even commenting.  All I could do was just watch how this monster that had hacked my account continue with his quest to sabotage my image, as my Facebook friends would send me messages after messages expressing their disgust and outrage with me.  Most of them were shocked thinking just how could I dare send them such filthy messsages. Thank goodness, there were a few that knew better and acknowledged how they knew that my account must have been hacked.  That was really encouraging.  But I couldn't even reply to those few friends with a simple thank you.  Most of my other Facebook friends weren't as understanding and had sent me rather feisty messages expressing to me his or her anger.  Some even notified me that I would be deleted on his or her list of Facebook friends because of this matter.  I must have lost about 50 or so Facebook friends that day.  The whole experience was really a complete nightmare.

You're probably thinking, so how would this affect my postings on Blogger?  Well, Facebook, just like Blogger, is a social media network website.  Like a lot of bloggers, all of my accounts on such social media network websites are linked together.  When something goes wrong with one of them, the rest are affected.  Even though it is not one of those website where I am able to make money from directly, as I do on YouTube, Tumblr, HubPages, and now with Blogger since some of my blogsites have recently been monetized, what Facebook does for my articles that I post on my blogsites hosted by Blogger is that it serves as a major traffic source.  In addition to my personal account that has a total of 5,000 friends, I also have created three Facebook pages that are directly linked to my blogsites hosted by Blogger, which means whenever I post an article, by sharing them on Facebook, these articles are given an exposure to a potential audience of roughly 10,000.  For a newbie blogger such as myself, that's rather a huge chunk taken away from my current total viewership potential.  With that said, I'm sure, one can understand just how frustrating it was not to be able to share any of articles posted on my blogsites.  I mean, really, what good would it be to even publish these articles if nobody is going to read them?  That's just like if a singer had to perform on stage to an empty audience.

During these past several days, without the ability of sharing any articles on Facebook, rather than posting them on my blogsites I have worked on writing them without the usage of my computer.  I've since compled writing about a dozen of these rough drafts.  All I have to do now is post them.  Now that everything has been cleared up with my Facebook account and I've been granted with full access to post and share articles, I'll be typing them up and posting them on my blogsites for everyone to read soon.  My next three upcoming articles to be published on ThienPhuViet-Singer.Blogspot.com are entitled as How I Lost 100 Pounds, What's Next? and My Teacher Known as the Timeless Voice, which is an article I have written in honor of my voice teacher, the legendary Thai Thanh.  These should be posted soon, so check them out.  I think you'll find these articles to be rather enjoyable to read.  As for my activities on my other blogsites, on NgocLanRemembered.BlogSpot.com look forward to reading the next scheduled posting which will be entitled as Did You Know Ngoc Lan Could Also Sing in Chinese?  On VietCeleb.Blogspot.com, the next featured Viet celebrities with full bios and tributes to be posted are as follows:  La Thoai Tan, Tang Thanh Ha, Vu Linh, Elvis Phuong, Hong Nhung, Manh Quynh, My Tam, Bebe Hong Suong, Cuong Vu, Minh Tuyet, Duc Huy, Thanh Tuyen, Shayla and Leyna Nguyen.  This site has just gone off.  Thanks, by the way, to everyone for your viewership on VietCeleb.  On ClubLai.BlogSpot.com, check out my tributes to singers Marie Louise, Van Anh and Tuan Kiet.  And last but not least, how could I leave out my blogsite, MrKoolKat.BlogSpot.com?  I'll be posting several adorable photos of my feisty mother cat, Sheba.  Trust me, you'll end up loving her as much as I do.  

Thien Phu on My Favorite Vietnamese Composers

Pham Duy - the most prolific composer
 of Vietnamese popular music

Being a Vietnamese singer, I'm often asked who are my favorite songwriters and composers.  Well, I have to say that I can't deny the talents of Pham Duy and Trinh Cong Son.  Afterall, they are the legends among Vietnamese songwriters.  I especially enjoy listening to the compositions of these two whenever sung by such legendary singers like Julie Quang, Khanh Ly, Le Thu, Duy Quang, Thai Hien and Cam Van.  But for me, personally, I've hardly ever sung any songs written by these two.  Quynh Huong was one of the few songs I've ever sung on stage written by Trinh Cong Son.  I remember one time while I was performing on a show together with Y Lan, since it was set in a ballroom dancing atmostphere I had started to run out of songs to perform in the cha cha tempo and Quynh Huong was the only song left that I could think of.  I was quite hesitant of singing it that night, since I was fully aware of how Y Lan had made this song so famous with her fabulous interpretation back in the 1990s.  But what was I to do?  Just to show you what a great sport she is, when it was my turn to get up on stage and sing during the Da Vu, the Vietnamese term for ballroom dancing, segment of the show, she smiled at me and said to go ahead and sing it.  I still didn't.  I went ahead and decided on the last minute to do Besame Mucho in French, even though I hadn't memorized all of the lyrics yet.  But I improvised, and thank goodness, the audience didn't really take notice.  Anyway, back to Trinh Cong Son, I've been an obsessed fan of his music especially with songs like Tinh Nho, Nhu Canh Vac Bay and Diem Xua, just to name a few.  I particularly  love Trinh Cong Son's music whenever sung by Khanh Ly.  Mua Thu Chet is my favorite Pham Duy penned song, and in my book, that song must be sung by none other than Julie Quang, of course.

Duc Huy - Vietnamese Songwriter
 and Singer

I've sung a lot of songs written by Duc Huy.  Of course, he is one of my favorite composers, as well.  His music appeals to a younger generation.  When I first started out singing, I was then considered a young singer.  Of Duc Huy's songs, I've always loved Tieng Mua Dem, Nguoi Tinh Tram Nam, Trai Tim Nguc Tu, Duong Xa Uot Mua and Nhu Da Dau Yeu.  

One other Vietnamese composer I've always admired is Ngo Thuy Mien.  His music is like no other's.  I'd have to say the two songs I've liked the most from Ngo Thuy Mien are Mua Thu Cho Em and Tu Giong Hat Em, both of which have been recorded by another one of my idols, Khanh Ha.  In my opinion, her renditions of these two songs were the best.

Van Phung - composer of songs such as Tinh,
 Toi Di Giua Hoang Hon and Noi Buon

But the composer that has been my constant most favorite in Vietnamese popular music has always been Van Phung.  I've loved all of his songs from Tinh, Noi Buon, Chan Nan, Suoi Toc to Toi Di Giua Hoang Hon.  I had the pleasure of singing one of his songs while he was in the audience many years ago while in Washington, D.C.  Can you guess which song it was?  Yeu va Mo was the name of that song I had the utmost pleasure of serenading Mr. Van Phung and his lovely wife, Chau Ha.  To meet him and his lovely wife was just one of the biggest thrills in my singing career.  Oh, by the way, there is one very important individual I should not forget to mention pertaining to this particular Van Phung penned tune that I have included in my repertoire song list at my live performances all these years.  And that is, the legendary Thai Thanh, whom I deeply admire and in fact had been my voice teacher during my beginning as a Vietnamese singer.  It was she who had taught me this song.  I guess I should also give Thai Thanh more credit for having introduced me to and helped me appreciate the beautiful music of Van Phung, one of the most talented composers of Vietnamese popular music ever.  

I Still Can't Sing Karaoke

One of the things I dread the most is whenever friends ask me to go to karaoke with them.  It's not that I don't think karaoke bars are fun.  They are.  It's just that I can't sing karaoke to save my life.  Every time I've tried to sing karaoke, the first thing friends will ask me is, "Are you sure you sing professionally?"

It's rather frustrating, but I guess I am not blessed with a singing voice suitable for karaoke.  At least I think that's what it is.  Whenever I am with a bunch of friends at a karaoke, I usually shy away from singing.  What usually happens is that by the end of the night, my friends will insist that I sing.  "Come on, Thien Phu, sing us a song!  Why are you trying to act as if you're shy?"  The truth of the matter is I'm not shy.  I just know that I'm not good singing karaoke.  As much as I try to explain myself, my friends usually won't let up.  And then after they hear me try to sing karaoke, everyone gets disappointed. 

For a long time it used to puzzle me why I was so bad at karaoke.  It even made me doubt myself as a professional singer.  And then one day, I asked my voice coach, the legendary Vietnamese singer, Thai Thanh.  According to Thai Thanh, she has the same problem.  Her explanation to me was that we professional singers have been spoiled with having bands play songs in the key our vocal chords are used to and when singing karaoke, we'd fail miserably since the arrangements for the songs are for someone else's key instead of ours.  She made a lot of sense.

There was a brief time when I used to do karaoke weddings when I first started out singing.  There were a few karaoke songs that I think I sounded okay singing.  But still, the image that I now have from those times performing at karaoke weddings are similar to nightmares. 

Just the other day, a friend asked me to sing a cappella.  I went through with it.  But I'll be honest, I was really uncomfortable doing it.  I've been used to singing through a microphone for so long, when asked to sing a cappella, I really get caught off guard.  Like the saying goes, a singer is nothing without his band.  

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."