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Born as Nguyễn Chí Hùng on April 11, 1968 in Vung Tau, South Vietnam, he is the youngest in a family of 7 children. In 1975, he and his siblings left Vietnam with their mother for the United States. Unfortunately, his father wasn't able to make the trip with the rest of the family and remained in Vietnam until his death 20 years later. During the first several years in the United States, his family moved around and lived in various states from Ohio, Kentucky, Mississippi to finally resettling permanently in Southern California in 1978. While Philip Huy was in high school, his older sister, Tuyet Nhung, had become a professional singer in the Vietnamese community. During his senior year at Cal State Long Beach as an accounting major, he dropped out of college to follow in his sister's footsteps to pursue a career in music.
In 1994 one night while visiting the Can Club in Orange County, California, which was where his sister was a regular performer, Philip Huy went on stage to sing during open mic and caught the eye of musician Ngoc Trac who then referred him to the owner of Mây Productions. Shortly thereafter, a recording contract was signed. From his first appearance on volume 10 of the Hollywood Night video series produced by Mây Productions performing a cover of Harry Nilsson's Without You, viewer audiences were mesmerized with his soulful style of singing and his ability to sing in English as if he were a native speaker. A debut solo studio album also entitled as Without You would be released by Mây Productions in the fall of 1994. His next two appearances on Hollywood Night would also be well received by viewer audiences with covers of Because I Love You and The Eagles' classic, Hotel California, which has since become known as Philip Huy's signature song with Vietnamese audiences.
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Philip Huy performing a cover of Elvis Presley's Summer Kisses, Winter Tearson the Paris By Night stage (1996) |
Due to undisclosed health matters, Philip Huy went on a career hiatus that lasted for nearly 4 years. The actual ailment he had endured during those years still remains unknown to his public. Because of his decision to keep his health matters in secrecy, many rumors began to circulate about Philip Huy from his fans and the general public that ranged from alleged claims that he was suffering from a nervous breakdown, paranoid schizophrenia to even being a victim of voodoo. Many had believed that the cause of Philip Huy's alleged mental breakdown was due in part to his breakup with singer My Huyen. The only fact that Philip Huy has admitted to publicly is that he had been stricken with illness for several years and that he had recovered around August of 1999.
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Philip Huy and Sy Dan on volume 75 of Asia Entertainment's live show video series (2014) |
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