Le Uyen

Le Uyen (1952-    ) is a Vietnamese singer who had first gained prominence as a one half of the legendary singing duo, Le Uyen & Phuong, in Saigon during the late 1960s.

Born as Lam Phuc Anh on July 17, 1952 in Hanoi, she is the eldest out of two daughters in a Chinese-Vietnamese family of Hoa descent.  In 1954, Le Uyen and her family resettled in the Cho Lon district of Saigon, South Vietnam.  While in Da Lat at the age of 16, she met and married Le Minh Lap, a songwriter, singer and musician 11 years her senior who would later become known as Le Uyen Phuong.

As a duo, Le Uyen & Phuong first began to have a following in 1969 among the young adult demographics of South Vietnam, particularly university and college students.  As their popularity grew, the duo began performing for major music festivals and concert events all over South Vietnam until the Fall of Saigon in 1975.  Le Uyen & Phuong recorded for various major record labels of South Vietnam including Shotguns, Thanh Thuy, Nhat Truong, Jo Marcel, Nhac Tre and Pham Manh Cuong.  The duo developed a distinct trademark with their audio recordings in which consisted of their vocals accompanied solely by Le Uyen Phuong on acoustic guitar as music arrangements.  Among their most popular recorded songs together as a duo were songs written and composed by Le Uyen Phuong, himself, such as Da Khuc Cho Tinh Nhan, Buon Den Bao Gio, Tren Da Tinh Yeu, Bai Ca Hanh Ngo and Dem Cho Phien Mua Dong.  Aside from songs written by her husband, Le Uyen also found success with recordings of songs by other composers such as Co Hong written by Pham Duy.    

In 1979, the couple and their two daughters, Le Uyen Uyen and Le Uyen Mi, left their homeland for the United States resettling in Southern California.  Immediately, they continued with their music careers performing for overseas Vietnamese audiences throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe.  In the early 1980s, they opened up LUP, a coffee shop which featured weekly live entertainment that ran for several successful years in the Vietnamese community of Orange County, California.  Their marriage ended in divorce in 1985.  In the United States, Le Uyen & Phuong had released several studio albums including Xin Cho Yeu Em Nong Nang (1982), Trai Tim Ke La (1988) and Tinh Nhu May Coi La (1998).

After her divorce, Le Uyen continued her career as a solo artist.  In 1988, she went on a successful tour of Japan performing alongside fellow overseas Vietnamese singers Thanh Thuy and Kim Tuyen.  Le Uyen has recorded for many major overseas Vietnamese music production labels such as Truong Thanh, Da Lan, Thanh Lan, Mai Ngoc Khanh and Lang Van.  In 1991, she appeared on Thuy Nga's Paris By Night stage with a solo performance of Chieu Tren Pha Tam Giang written by Nhat Truong.  Fifteen years later, she would reprise her performance of that same song in a duet with singer Thien Kim on volume 50 of Asia Entertainment's live show music video series.  During the mid 1990s, Le Uyen would reunite with her ex-husband and former singing partner, Le Uyen Phuong, performing as a duo some of their greatest hit songs he had written such as Uong Nuoc Ben Bo Suoi, Vung Lay Cua Chung Ta, Loi Goi Chan May, Hay Ngoi Xuong Day and Cho Lan Cuoi.  After Le Uyen Phuong's passing in 1999, Le Uyen continued with many more appearances as a solo artist for Asia Entertainment with such memorable performances of Tinh Khuc Thu Nhat written by Vu Thanh An, Nho Nguoi Thuong Binh  written by Pham Duy, Dem Chon Dau Vuot Bien written by Chau Dinh An and Me Viet Nam Oi!  Chung Con Van Con Day written by Hoang Phong Linh, a moving duet with singer Thanh Lan about the plight of homesick former Vietnamese nationals who have resettled overseas.  Le Uyen has made several successful concert tours in her native Vietnam, most recently on September of 2015 she performed together with Khanh Ly, Quang Dung and Quang Thanh at a live show entitled Tinh Khuc Cho Em held in the city of Da Nang.