Tiny Yong

Tiny Yong (1944-    ) is a famous French-language pop singer from the yé-yé era and actress.

She was born on February 8, 1944 as Ton Nu Thi Thien Huong in Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Vietnamese parents.  Her father was a prominent doctor.  While she was a young child, her parents returned to Vietnam and lived in Da Lat for  several years before relocating to Saigon.  While in Saigon, she studied English, Spanish and French.  At the age of 14, her family left Vietnam to resettle in Paris, France where her father would resume work as a physician and her mother would open a Vietnamese restaurant.  That same year, she became an acting student of French actress Solange Sicard and made her stage debut in the Albert Camus play, Les Justes.  In 1961, she made her film debut in La Jeu de la Vérité, costarring with Jean Servais and Paul Meurisse.  Tiny Yong is an anglicized version of her Vietnamese name, Thien Huong.

(From Left to Right) Tiny Yong, Jeanne Valérie, Daliah Lavi,
Perrette Pradier, Nadia Gray and Francoise Prévost in La Jeu de la Vérité (1961)

Tiny Yong began her professional singing career in 1960 at the Table du Mandarin cabaret in Paris.  This was the same venue that launched the career of another legendary Vietnamese chanteuse by the name of Bach Yen.  Upon being discovered by singer and record producer, Henri Salvador, she recorded her first hit single, Tai Toi Petite Folie, released in 1963.  Tiny Yong became one of the most popular guest performers on the show, Salut les Copains, from 1963 to 1965 and was voted as one of five most admired singers in France along with Sylvie Vartan, Sheila, Francoise Hardy and Petula Clark.  Among her most popular hit songs include Le Sauvage, Le Roi de Monteurs, a duet with Henri Salvador, and 8 Jours par Semaine, a French version of a classic of The Beatles, Eight Days a Week.  

In 1967, Tiny Yong returned to Saigon for three years on an invitation to perform at the prestigious Tu Do cabaret.  During this period in Vietnam, Tiny Yong recorded Biet Ly written by Dzoan Mau for Jo Marcel's record label.  She also appeared on national television and recorded a duet of Chieu Mua Bien Gioi with legendary comedian/singer Tran Van Trach.

Upon returning to Paris in 1970, Tiny Yong got married and became a restaurateur.  She is a mother of a grown daughter.