Khánh Ly
| Khánh Ly | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Nguyễn Lệ Mai |
| Born | 6 March 1945 Hanoi, Vietnam |
| Origin | South Vietnam, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocal |
| Years active | (1962–present) |
Khánh Ly (born as Nguyễn Lệ Mai (Mai Nguyen) on 6 March 1945) is a Vietnamese singer. She performed many songs written by Vietnamese composer Trịnh Công Sơn and rose to fame in the 1960s.
Khánh Ly was born to a traditional family and grew up in Hanoi. As a child, she would fall asleep to her father's soothing voice. His serenades planted inside her a love for music, which grew stronger every day against her family's wishes. In 1954, at the age of 9, she entered a small contest in the city of Hanoi singing Thơ Ngây; she did not win.
By 1956, she accompanied her mother to the southern regions of Vietnam. At the end of that very same year, she secretly entered a children's talent-search contest produced by Pháp-Á production at Norodom Stage in Saigon. Mai traveled to the contest by sneaking into the back of transport trucks and hitching a ride from Đà Lạt City to Saigon. She won second prize singing Pham Duy's famous song, Ngày Trở Về. Mai lost to child-star Quốc Thắng who would also later become an iconic figure in the music world. She was only 11.
Mai's musical career did not officially begin until she debuted at Club Anh Vũ on Bùi Viện Street in Saigon when she was only 17 (1962). At this point, she adopted the stage name Khánh Ly, a combination of Khánh Kỵ and Yêu Ly, both are characters from Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms, her favorite novel. By the end of 1962, she relocated to Đà Lạt and stayed there for four years performing at various clubs and resorts. Night after night, she serenaded lovers, tourists, and the youths of Vietnam. On a rainy night in 1964, she met Trịnh Công Sơn (TCS), at that time a young composer and a teacher at a school in Bảo Lộc. They became fast friends. Fascinated by her seductive voice, Trinh had asked her on several occasions to accompany him in his performances in Saigon. Still in love with the romantic hills of Da Lat, she declined.
During a trip to Saigon in 1967, she ran into Trịnh on the busy streets of Lê Thánh Tôn. After several serenades and coffee at a small shop called Quán Văn, the legacy of Khánh Ly and Trịnh Công Sơn has begun. Within the next several decades, Khánh Ly and Trịnh Công Sơn sang together at small coffee shops, clubs, and even on the steps of Văn Khoa University in Saigon (a liberal arts school). During the escalation of an unwanted and bloody war, his anti-war lyrics in the Yellow-Skin Songs and her luring voice appealed to those who grew weary of the battles and bloodshed; their plea for peace propelled them to the top. From the educating fields of large universities to the unknown and endless farm lands, she was heard, known, and hailed as "Nữ Hoàng Chân Đất" or "Nữ Hoàng Sân Cỏ." Together, Khánh Ly and Trịnh Công Sơn took the Vietnamese music world by storm. Their phenomenal fame gave her the chance to be the first Vietnamese woman to headline her own show. During the late 1960s to early 1970s, she also collaborated with multiple production companies and played a large part on the recorded tracks from famous videos such as the Phạm Mạnh Cương Program, Trường Sơn Centre, Sơn Ca Productions, Hoạ Mi, Jo Marcel Productions, etc.
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