In Focus: Khánh Ly

One hour of songs from the legendary Vietnamese-American singer, Khánh Ly. In 1962, at the age of 17, Khanh Ly began her professional music career, performing at clubs in the Southern Vietnamese Highlands. On a rainy night in 1964, she met Trịnh Công Sơn, at that time a young composer, and they became fast friends. Fascinated by her seductive voice, Trinh had asked her on several occasions to accompany him in his performances in Saigon, but still in love with the romantic hills of Da Lat, she declined. In 1967 by chance (but according to many, serendipity) they met again, and soon Khanh Ly and Trinh Cong Son gained phenomenal fame across the entire country. During the escalation of an unwanted and bloody war, his anti-war lyrics and her alluring voice appealed to those who grew weary of the battles and bloodshed; their plea for peace propelled them to the top. Their phenomenal fame gave her the chance to be the first Vietnamese woman to headline her own show. In 1975, Khánh Ly, along with thousands of Vietnamese refugees, crossed the Pacific Ocean and settled in America, where she has also devoted the majority of her time to humanitarian acts and charitable organisations for Vietnamese orphans as well as Vietnamese refugees around the world. For someone who is the voice of generations, she has only one simple wish: "To breathe my last breath on the stage which gave me life…."