Phuong Hoai Tam

Phương Hoài Tâm (1955-    ) is a Vietnamese singer, former cinema of Saigon actress turned Vietnamese-American businesswoman.

Born into a working class family in Saigon, Phương Hoài Tâm was the third eldest in a family of four children.  While in her early teen years, Phương Hoài Tâm was recruited by famed musician Nguyễn Đức into the youth musical group, Việt Nhi, which consisted of other members such as Thanh Lan, Hòang Oanh, Kim Loan, Phương Hồng Hạnh, Phương Bích Hằng, Phương Hồng Loan, Phương Hồng Quế and Phương Hồng Ngọc.  In 1970, Phương Hoài Tâm was cast in a supporting role in Nàng, a feature film starring Thẩm Thúy Hằng, La Thoại Tân, Trần Quang and Việt Hùng.  The following year, Phương Hoài Tâm gained national fame as a singer with her recording of the song, Sao Chưa Thấy Hồi Âm (written by Châu Kỳ).  She collaborated with various major music labels in South Vietnam such as Sóng Nhạc, Continental and Sơn Ca and made appearances as a musical guest star on such television shows produced by Châu Kỳ, Phạm Mạnh Cương and Nhật Trường.  Among her most popular recorded songs include Sơn Nữ Ca (written by Trần Hoàn), Đò Chiều (written by Trúc Phương) and Thiên Thai (written by Văn Cao), a duet with singer Hòang Oanh.   While only 18 years of age, Phương Hoài Tâm had gotten married to an ARVN sergeant and started a family of her own shortly thereafter with the birth of her son.  To supplement her household income, she found work headlining at cabarets in Saigon such as Hòa Bình, Olympia and Maxim's.

Thẩm Thúy Hằng and Phương Hoài Tâm (1970)

Upon the Fall of Saigon, Phương Hoài Tâm along with her husband and young child fled Vietnam by boat and eventually resettled in Northern California.  Years later, she would be reunited with her two older brothers and younger sister in the United States.  Immediately after arriving in the United States, Phương Hoài Tâm began singing for various nightclubs located in San Francisco's Chinatown and Little Tokyo communities and frequently traveled to faraway destinations to perform at live shows for Vietnamese audiences all over the United States and Canada.  After completion of vocational school which specialized in the teachings of skin care in San Francisco along with a year studying abroad in Hong Kong the art of embroidery permanent makeup artistry, she embarked on a successful new career as a skin care specialist and beauty consultant.  In 1979, she and her husband permanently took up residence in San Jose, California where she would headline at major Vietnamese nightclubs such as Lido, Mini Club and Maxim's throughout the 1980s.  She released a pair of solo studio albums during this decade, Thu Vàng (1986) and Biết Tỏ Cùng Ai (1987).  With the formation of her own business, Tammy Skin Care & Cosmetics, Inc., in 1988 which became a major success almost overnight, Phương Hoài Tâm made the decision to walk away from showbiz the following year in order to concentrate more on her entrepreneurial interests.  In 2004, Phương Hoài Tâm suffered the loss of her husband of over 30 years due to illness.

(From left to right) Phương Hồng Ngọc, Phương Hoài Tâm,
 Thanh Lan and Phương Hồng Quế (2008)

At the beginning of the year in 2007, Phương Hoài Tâm finally made her return to the stage ending her hiatus which lasted 18 years when she accepted an invitation from long time friend and former singing mate, Phương Hồng Quế, to perform at a live show in Toronto, Canada held in honor of their mentor, Nguyễn Đức.  Later that same year, Phương Hoài Tâm made her debut on the popular live show music video series produced by Asia Entertainment performing the song, Chiều Làng Em (written by Trúc Phương) as part of a trio known as Tam Ca Phương together with Phương Hồng Quế and Phương Hồng Ngọc.  Their popularity with viewer audiences prompted the executives at Asia Entertainment to invite the trio to return for the next 5 consecutive volumes of the live show series. 

Phương Hoài Tâm has since returned to maintaining her skin care empire which in recent years has also included distribution of her own line of skin care products.  In addition, Phương Hoài Tâm has also been a certified trainer and educator of Rejuvi Laboratory USA since 1992 in which she has traveled all over the United States conducting instructional classes on skin care.

Link(s):

TammySkinCare.com