Ngoc Bich

Ngọc Bích (1955-    ) is a famous Vietnamese pop singer.  During the peak of her popularity, she was hailed by her many fans in Vietnam as "Nu Hoang Nhac Tre", the Queen of Pop Music.  

Her parents, Viet Hung and Ngoc Nuoi, were both famous veteran performers of Southern Vietnamese folk opera known as cai luong.  Ngoc Bich grew up as the fourth child in a family household of six children.  Although she had been trained to sing in the cai luong genre, she had taken a liking to American pop music from early on. At the age of 13, she began her professional career in music as the lead vocalist in a group formed by her siblings called The Crazy Dogs.  With a forte of doing covers of American pop music, The Crazy Dogs had risen to become one of the most successful rock and roll bands in Saigon within a short period of time. They performed primarily at nightclubs and venues in Saigon which catered primarily to US military personnel and civilians such as Sherwood Forest, Au Baccara, Au Ma Cabane and the USO.  Although members of The Crazy Dogs were underage teenagers, Ngoc Bich, her older sister, Ngoc Quy, and her three brothers, Viet Tai, Viet Nang and Ngoc Chau were able to earn the respect of being serious musicians comparable to their older peers like CBC, Enterprise, The Uptight and The Dreamers.

On April 30, 1975 within hours before the Fall of Saigon, her father, Viet Hung, along with four of her siblings, Viet Tai, Viet Nang, Ngoc Quy and Ngoc Chau were evacuated by an American helicopter leaving Saigon while Ngoc Bich, her mother, Ngoc Nuoi, and younger brother, Viet Sinh, were left behind.  With the changes under the new communist regime that had taken over South Vietnam, Ngoc Bich like many other Vietnamese pop singers struggled to make a living for the first several years as the nightclubs and cabarets of Saigon had all closed down.  She then switched to cai luong and joined her mother performing with the Thanh Nga Folk Opera Theater Troupe.  It was there that she would meet and marry Thanh Sang, the famous cai luong theater actor.  Unfortunately, the marriage would end in divorce after just one year.  

With the rebirth of the pop music scene in Vietnam during the early 1980s after the communist regime had eased up on certain government regulations, Ngoc Bich was then able to resume her career as a pop singer.  Ngoc Bich's stardom would then rise beyond even her own expectations.  Her biggest success came from doing covers of songs in the English language from the famous Swedish pop music quartet, ABBA, which gained her a huge fan base and the unofficial title as "Nu Hoang Nhac Tre", the Queen of Pop Music.  Ngoc Bich headlined at all the major venues around Ho Chi Minh City and toured all over Vietnam in the 1980s.  Among her signature Vietnamese songs were Tam Biet Chim En written by Tran Tien, Ngoi Sao Co Don and Loi To Tinh cua Mua Xuan, both written by the late Thanh Tung.  

While at her career peek Ngoc Bich, her mother, younger brother and eldest of two sons left Vietnam in 1990 to resettle in the United States where they would reunite with her father and four other siblings who had been living there since 1975.  Unfortunately, the family reunion would turn out to be bittersweet after discovering that her father has since remarried.  On top of having to overcome such shock, she also missed her youngest son who was living with his father back in Vietnam.  Despite such matters, Ngoc Bich forged ahead and resumed her music career in the overseas Vietnamese communities.    

Several weeks after arriving from Vietnam, Ngoc Bich performed at a sold out event held in her honor at Dem Dong Phuong, a Vietnamese nightclub owned and operated by singer Duy Quang and his then wife, My Ha, in Santa Ana, California.  Shortly after, she became a regular weekly performer at the Diamond Nightclub in Fullerton, California.  As a recording artist, she accepted offers from various overseas Vietnamese music labels such as Nguoi Dep Binh Duong and Lang Van.  During the craze of medleys known as "Lien Khuc" in the overseas Vietnamese music industry, Ngoc Bich recorded a series of such albums with other singers like Anh Son, Kieu Nga, Elvis Phuong and Huong Lan.  It was Huong Lan who had played a key part in helping Ngoc Bich resume her singing career in the United States by introducing her to various video production studios and show promoters of the overseas Vietnamese entertainment industry.  One such introduction from Huong Lan led to a contract deal with Thuy Nga, the most prolific overseas Vietnamese production label.  In 1991, Ngoc Bich traveled to France twice to appear on the popular Paris By Night live show music video series performing covers of Woman in Love and Unchained Melody, both in English and translated Vietnamese lyrics.  This would be followed with six appearances on the Hollywood Night video series produced by Mây Productions from 1994 to 1997 with stellar performances of songs such as I Will Always Love You, The Power of Love and Still Loving You.

After Diamond Nightclub closed its doors Ngoc Bich was then recruited by Ngoc Chanh to join his lineup of singers over at Ritz Nightclub in Anaheim, California.  She would remain as a weekly regular performer at Ritz for the rest of the 1990s decade.  Ngoc Bich also recorded and appeared on video for various other music labels during this period including World Productions, Nhac Tre, Thanh Hang and Van Son Entertainment.  Her most well received solo studio album, Biet Yeu Lan Dau, was released in 1993 by World Productions.  Ngoc Bich has also recorded several duet albums with other singers like Viet Dzung and Thai Chau.  Among her most popular recorded Vietnamese songs during this period included Mot Coi Di Ve written by Trinh Cong Son, Bai Khong Ten So 2 and Bai Khong Ten So 8 both written by Vu Thanh An.  

The untimely death of her older brother, Viet Nang, in 2000 followed by the deaths of both her father and mother the following year plunged Ngoc Bich into a severe state of depression.  She then made the decision to put her singing career all behind her during this time of mourning.  For the next three years, Ngoc Bich stayed clear from the spotlight and found a job working at a computer manufacturing company.  After the company she worked for went bankrupt, Ngoc Bich was out of a job.  Once again, her childhood friend, singer Huong Lan, stepped in and reintroduced her back onto the music scene.  Ngoc Bich started performing again at live shows across the United States and in her native Vietnam.  

Since her first trip back to Vietnam in 1997 as a featured performer on a concert tour for charity sponsored by the Ve Nguon organization, Ngoc Bich has made many more return trips back to her native homeland.  The warm reception she has received with audiences in Vietnam has given her singing career a second wind.  In 2003 she was the featured performer in the Vietnamese television program, Mot Thoang Saigon.  Ngoc Bich continues to travel back and forth from the United States to Vietnam where she is still a major draw in the cabaret circuit of Ho Chi Minh City.  

Ngoc Bich is a mother of two grown sons.  Her oldest son, now in his thirties and living in the United States, was from a brief relationship after her divorce from theater actor Thanh Sang in the 1970s.  Her younger son,  who is now in his twenties and living in Ho Chi Minh City, came from her second marriage during the 1980s.