Sher'e Thu Thuy (1952- ) is a Vietnamese-American singer, songwriter and actress who had gained international prominence with her biggest hit single,
Gonna Lose My Heart, released in the 1980s when Italo Disco/ Euro New Wave music was at its peak in popularity.
She was born on October 21, 1952 in Saigon, South Vietnam, the fourth eldest in an affluent family of nine children. Her father was the owner and CEO of Vopco, one of South Vietnam's most prolific import/export trading companies prior to the Fall of Saigon. Sher'e Thu Thuy and her siblings were each raised with a privileged upbringing and given a French education. At 15, she began singing professionally with her older brother,
Manh Ha, in their band,
The Mavericks, nightly at a local venue in Bien Hoa, Vietnam which catered primarily to US military personnel patrons. She and her older brother performed covers of popular American songs at the venue and quickly developed a following within the community of US military personnel stationed in Bien Hoa. She was then known to her audience by the stage name of Sandy.
After a few years as the female lead singer of The Mavericks in South Vietnam, Sher'e Thu Thuy left her native homeland for the United States at the end of 1970 and married an American by the name of James Roy Wycoff shortly thereafter. Putting her music career behind her, she resettled in Southern California and embarked on a new career as an actress for American mainstream television and films. Among her television acting credits include appearances on popular shows such as
All My Children, Too Close for Comfort, Highway to Heaven, Divorce Court and
China Beach. Sher'e Thu Thuy has also appeared on a number of major Hollywood produced films like
A Rumor of War (1980),
Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder (1982) and
Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987).
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| Sher'e Thu Thuy in the music video It's Only You |
After a 13-year hiatus, in 1983 Sher'e Thu Thuy resumed her music career when she along with her two brothers, Manh Ha and
Alan Nguyen, and musician
Trung Nghia formed a band in Burbank, California called
The Survivors. Other singers recruited as regular performers for The Survivors band included
Vy Van and
Tuan Dung. The Survivors became quite successful performing mostly at gigs for Vietnamese-American audiences. Sher'e Thu Thuy would go on to perform at major cabarets within the Vietnamese-American community in Orange County, California throughout the 1980s such as
Saigon Cabaret,
Lang Van - Dem Mau Hong and
Ritz. She also toured extensively performing at live shows for overseas Vietnamese communities throughout the United States and Canada sharing the stage with the likes of
Khanh Ly,
Thanh Thuy and
Elvis Phuong. In 1985, Sher'e Thu Thuy formed her own music production label and released her first studio album,
Nu Hon Dau (First Kiss), which also featured singers
Ngoc Lan and
Nhu Mai. In 1987, she became one of the very few overseas Vietnamese artists to have a single record released on vinyl with a song she had co-written with her younger brother, Alan Nguyen, entitled as
Gonna Lose My Heart. To her amazement, the single became an international hit making the charts in many European countries where Italo Disco and Euro New Wave were massively popular and also on the charts in countries of East Asia, particularly Hong Kong where it had became a top ten hit. In addition, the single enjoyed heavy rotation and was given tremendous airplay by mainstream celebrity disc jockey, Richard Blade, of the popular Southern California-based radio station, KROQ-106.7 FM. The international success of
Gonna Lose My Heart generated a fan base for Sher'e Thu Thuy that spanned all over the globe. Despite the overwhelming anticipation from fans, a music video to her first international hit single had not been produced due to schedule conflicts. Sher'e Thu Thuy followed up the success of
Gonna Lose My Heart with another international hit single,
It's Only You, in which she again had co-written with her brother, Alan Nguyen. Like her previous international hit single,
It's Only You was also released as a record single on vinyl. Recorded versions with Vietnamese lyrics for both of these songs would be featured on Sher'e Thu Thuy's next studio album,
Chi Minh Anh (It's Only You), released in 1988. This time around, a music video would be made for
It's Only You. While being interviewed on Vietnam Performing Arts Television on channel 18 KSCI-TV in the spring of 1988, she premiered her music video for
It's Only You to Vietnamese-American viewer audiences. Among Sher'e Thu Thuy's other popular hit songs include
I Feel Your Love, Prisoner of Love, Bring My Heart to Light and
I Don't Like You. It should be noted that Sher'e Thu Thuy was the first Vietnamese-American female singer to have written a published hit song in English.
The beginning of the 1990s decade Sher'e Thu Thuy was still very much at the top of her game, but yet she abruptly walked away from the music industry and chose to remain out of public view for the next twenty years. Her videotape,
Bien Tinh, which comprised of several of Sher'e Thu Thuy's music videos of her hit songs from the 1980s including
It's Only You along with guest performances from singers
Y Lan and
Phuong Loan was released in 1991. That would mark the last release from TT Productions, her own music label she had formed back in 1985, for the next two decades. No formal announcement of retirement was made by Sher'e Thu Thuy to her fans which resulted in many speculations that circulated in the rumor mills of Vietnamese communities worldwide of her whereabouts. Nobody knew exactly where she had gone or why she had left the music industry, as it seemed like she had simply just vanished from the spotlight without a trace. Then in 2010, Sher'e Thu Thuy resurfaced with the release of
Dem Nay, her first studio album in over 20 years which featured
Solitaire, a track recorded in French written by her brother, Alan Nguyen. In an interview on 106.3 FM with actress/singer/radio talk show hostess
Bang Chau, Sher'e Thu Thuy candidly disclosed that the primary reasons for her departure from the music industry twenty years ago had to do with health and money matters. Although she did not go into much detail with her health matters, she did say that it was something she had dealt with in the past and that she is in good health today. In terms of the frustration she had experienced with financial matters back in the early 1990s, Sher'e Thu Thuy revealed that she, like so many other artists, had not been able to capitalize on the international success of her previous hit songs such as
Gonna Lose My Heart and
It's Only You due to copyright infringements and pirated duplication of her music that took place in several countries, mainly Hong Kong where her first single had been a top ten hit.
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Sher'e Thu Thuy at the Whiskey A Go Go
in West Hollywood, California, USA (September 18, 2013) |
Since her return to the stage, Sher'e Thu Thuy has performed in a series of well received live concerts. In 2010, she performed at Bleu Nightclub, a popular venue in the Vietnamese community of Orange County, California to a sold out crowd. In September of 2013, Sher'e Thu Thuy fulfilled a successful week long engagement at the legendary Whiskey A Go Go venue in West Hollywood, California. In addition to her careers as a professional singer and actress, Sher'e Thu Thuy is also a fashion designer. Many of the wardrobes and costumes she has worn at her live shows on stage were designed by Sher'e Thu Thuy, herself.
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