Minh Hieu

Minh Hieu (1935-    ) is a famous Vietnamese singer and film actress.

Born as Do Thi Lai in Soc Trang, South Vietnam, she grew up as the youngest in a working class family of five children.  Her father, known as "Chu Tam", owned a local barber shop and shared with his youngest daughter a common deep interest in music and the performing arts.  On a nightly basis, after closing up shop Chu Tam would turn his barber shop into a mini-café where he and a few of his friends would perform live music with an open mic for the guests.  This was where Minh Hieu had gotten her start singing in front of a live audience while in her early teens.  The guests from the local neighborhood soon began taking notice of how Chu Tam's youngest daughter was blossoming into a striking beauty toward her later teen years and how gifted and talented she was as a singer.  Prior to becoming an adult, Minh Hieu was already somewhat of a celebrity in her hometown as guests had steadily poured in nightly at her father's barber shop just to catch a glimpse of the beautiful young aspiring singer.

At the age of 18, Minh Hieu turned professional in her singing career and relocated to Saigon.  She quickly became one of Saigon's most popular headliners performing nightly at major cabarets and dance halls such as Arc-en-Ciel, Anh Vu, Hoa Binh and La Cigale.  Minh Hieu had also become one of the bestsellers among recording artists in South Vietnam during the 1950s and 1960s.  She had collaborated with several major record labels in Saigon such as Continental, Viet Nam and Song Nhac, which had produced and released her first solo studio album, Tieng Hat Minh Hieu.  As one of the most admired music artists recognized by the ARVN, Minh Hieu toured extensively entertaining troops that were stationed at various military bases throughout South and Central Vietnam.  Among her most famous hit songs included Manh Tinh Thuong written by Manh Giac, Quen Nhau Tren Duong Ve written by Thang Long, Ngan Cach written by Y Van, Pho Dem written by Tam Anh, Em La Tat Ca written by Lam Phuong, Mau Tim Hoa Sim written by Song Ngoc, 7 Ngay Doi Mong written by Nhat Truong and Mot Lan Trong Doi written by Duy Khanh.  Minh Hieu's status as a famous singer coupled with her movie star good looks, in which she had often been dubbed for having a resemblance to Hollywood screen goddess Elizabeth Taylor, led her to opportunities in the film industry of South Vietnam.  In 1961, Minh Hieu made her acting debut on the silver screen portraying the role of singer Thanh Thuy in the film directed by Nguyen Long, Thuy Da Di Roi.

During a trip she had made out to Pleiku to entertain ARVN troops in 1965, a chance meeting would take place for Minh Hieu with one of South Vietnam's highest ranked admirals and member of the former royal family of Annam (the former name of Imperial Central Vietnam), Vietnam's last ruling dynasty, admiral Vinh Loc, that would forever change her life.  Upon meeting Minh Hieu, the admiral was instantaneously overtaken by her charm and beauty.  Despite being already married with four children, Vinh Loc was completely smitten and fell head over heels in love with the young singer.  This preceded by the decorated admiral's decision to leave his wife and family and marry singer Minh Hieu sparked one of the biggest scandals in the history of modern South Vietnam.  For the duration of years leading up to the Fall of Saigon, Minh Hieu's name would become synonymous of a femme fatale Lolita.

Being the wife of Vinh Loc, a prominent heir and first cousin to Emperor Bao Dai, Minh Hieu would no longer have to work or even worry about any financial uncertainties that had plagued her in the past.  She then settled into a life of luxury as the pampered wife of a wealthy admiral.  However, for Minh Hieu changing into this new life and social status did not come without a price.  She had to learn to accept that her singing career was over and how her reputation had been severely tarnished as she was viewed as an infamous homewrecker by the same public that she had once been given with such adoration.

After the Fall of Saigon, Minh Hieu and Vinh Loc left their native homeland for the United States.  Resettled to a family life in a suburb outside of Houston, Texas since 1975, with almost two decades having passed since the scandal had first broken out publicly, it seemed as if time had quieted down such matters for Minh Hieu.  Finally in the 1980s, she managed to muster up the courage to face her public once again and resumed her singing career.  Minh Hieu has since performed at live shows for overseas Vietnamese audiences across the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe.  In 1983, she recorded her first overseas Vietnamese-produced solo studio album, Em La Tat Ca, released by the production label, Thanh Lan.  In recent years, Minh Hieu has collaborated with Asia Entertainment making appearances on the popular live show music video series.  Among her most popular appearances for Asia Entertainment include her solo of Chau Ky's Tieng Ca Do Ve Dau featured on volume 73 released in 2013 and duets with Lam Thuy Van of Doan Nguyen's Toi Di Tim Lai Mot Mua Xuan and with Thanh Thuy in a medley of two songs written by Huynh Anh, Kiep Cam Ca and Mua Rung, respectively featured on volumes 60, released in 2008, and volume 75, released in 2015.

On January 8, 2009, Minh Hieu's longtime husband, Vinh Loc, passed away at the age of 84.

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