Luu Hong (1947- ) is an overseas Vietnamese singer known for her distinct sensual and narrative voice.
Born in Cochinchin (a former name for the region of South Vietnam while under French rule) to a German father and a Vietnamese mother, Luu Hong had developed a keen interest in singing while she was still a young child. Her professional singing career began in 1965 after she and a few friends visited the
Queen Bee nightclub in Saigon one night. During open mic, she got up and sang two songs,
Sang Ngang written by
Do Le and
Tuoi Da Buon written by
Trinh Cong Son. The very next day, she was contacted by the owner with a job offer to perform nightly at the club. During the next several years, Luu Hong would perform at many more nightclubs throughout Saigon.
Luu Hong left her native homeland for the United States in 1975 upon the Fall of Saigon. It was here where her singing career really started to take flight. In 1982, Luu Hong formed her own music production label,
Luu Hong Enterprises, with the release of her first studio solo album,
Tieng Hat Luu Hong 1 - Loi Cuoi Cho Anh. For the next ten years, her production label would release over a dozen of her studio albums in total. Luu Hong's bestselling studio album of the 1980s,
Tinh Ca Tuyet Voi, which also featured guest male singers
Tuan Anh,
Tuan Vu and
Tuan Dat, was released in 1988. That same year, she also appeared on
Thuy Nga's
Paris By Night Volume 6 with a performance of
Bay Gio Thang May written by
Tu Cong Phung. In 1992, she appeared with her performance of
La Thu (Autumn Leaves) on volume 3 of
Asia Entertainment's
Tinh Yeu Tuoi Tre music video series along with
Lam Thuy Van,
Nhu Mai,
Thuy Vi and
Trung Hanh. Luu Hong has also appeared on music videos produced by
Truong Thanh and
Diem Quynh. By the end of the 1980s decade, she had come full circle as a successful overseas Vietnamese singer and was enjoying her career peak. Her popularity had led her to numerous collaborations as a recording artist for various major overseas Vietnamese music production labels such as
Da Lan,
Doi Magazine,
Nguoi Dep Binh Duong,
Phuong Hoang and
Asia Entertainment. Luu Hong had also toured extensively performing in live shows for overseas Vietnamese audiences across the United States, Canada and Europe and was among the original lineup of regular performers at the
Majestic Nightclub in Huntington Beach, California in the early 1990s which consisted of
Tuan Ngoc,
Thai Thao,
Cong Thanh & Lynn,
Hang Nga and
Phi Khanh. Among her most popular recorded songs include
Chuyen Hen Ho, Ca Phe Dang, Tu Do Em Buon, Pho Dem, Linh Hon Tuong Da and
Nang Xuan. In 1995, Luu Hong retired from the entertainment business to a quiet life in El Toro, California. Divorced from her first marriage to Duke Ngo which had produced two sons and lasted for more than twenty years, Luu Hong has since been in a steady relationship with a man named Nhon. The year 2012 proved to be a difficult year for Luu Hong as she experienced the deaths of both her eldest son and mother that occurred within weeks from one another.
It should be noted that Luu Hong was the first Eurasian Vietnamese singer to really have made a major impact in the Vietnamese music industry. Although there were others before her who had reached a certain level of prominence such as
Yen Huong,
Jeannie Mai,
Marie Louise of the pop music group,
CBC, and
Christiane Le of the pop music group,
Family Love, back in Saigon prior to 1975, Luu Hong's rise to mainstream success in the overseas Vietnamese music industry during the 1980s had far surpassed that of her Eurasian predecessors. After the release of several highly successful studio albums toward the final years of the 1980s decade, Luu Hong was then unquestionably a bona fide star in the Vietnamese music industry with a rather large fan base consisting of Vietnamese music lovers in all four corners of the world long before the likes of
Thanh Ha and
Phi Nhung had come along in the 1990s.
Link(s):
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