Quang Lê (born 24 January 1979) is one of the top selling Vietnamese-American recording artists, renowned for his unique covers of many traditional Vietnamese songs created and written before, during and about the Vietnam War.
Many famous Vietnamese songwriters, such as Đinh Miên Vũ, personally write songs for Quang Lê to perform on the Thúy Nga Paris By Night stage.
He was even given the opportunity to sing with a very famous female Vietnamese singer at the time, Phi Nhung, on two songs entitled “Ngày Đá Đơm Bông” and “Ngẫu Hứng Lý Qua Cầu”.
He waited two years before he received an invitation to appear in Thúy Nga's Paris by Night 66, entitled “Người Tình va Quê Hương”, an opportunity that opened all doors for Quang Lê and started his journey to becoming one of the top selling artists within the Vietnamese music industry.
[4] On Paris By Night 66, Quang Lê sang “Thư Xuân Trên Rừng Cao” from songwriter Trinh Lam Ngan, and although still very young, it was his voice and his ability to perform with his “Huế” accent that the audience started to pay attention to this up and coming artist.
In this instalment, he sang alongside an alumnus of Paris By Night and another “Quê Hương” singer, Tuong Nguyen, singing a mix of songs from songwriter Duy Khánh.
Quang Lê appeared again on the Paris By Night stage in number 69 entitled “Song Ca Nợ Tình” singing “Sương Trắng Miền Quê Ngoại” by Đinh Miên Vũ.
In fact, in Paris By Night 89: Live in Korea, during his interview onstage by MC Nguyễn Ngọc Ngạn, Quang Lê shared with the audience his experience meeting songwriter Đinh Miên Vũ.
In this instalment of Paris by Night, Quang Lê sang “Xuân Này Con Về Mẹ Ở Đâu”, a very emotional song by Nhat Ngan.
In Paris By Night 80 entitled Tết Khắp Mọi Nhà, Quang Lê sang the song “Mừng Tuổi Mẹ” (Celebrating Mother’s Birthdays).
His performance sparked the released of his next CD, simple titled “Đập Vỡ Cây Đàn” which again has Quang Lê continuing to explore other music genres.
He continued to provide to the audience with traditional Vietnamese music such as “Chuyện Ba Mùa Mưa” and “Nhật Ký Hai Đứa Mình”, a romantic “Quê Hương” song loved by many from the older generation.
The CD had a guest star from a very famous and beloved female artist, Minh Tuyết, who normally do not sing “Quê Hương” songs but sang “Bài Ca Kỷ Niệm” with Quang Lê.
In this show, performances were done live and Quang Lê, appearing more mature in a black suite, open collar and longer hair, provided a very upbeat version of the song, with vocals.
Quang Lê, alongside other singers, Khanh Ly, The Son, Tâm Đoan, Hương Thủy and Thanh Truc was part of a very special performance dedicated to all mothers, called “Lòng Mẹ Việt Nam”.
Quang Lê sang the song, promptly titled “Lòng Mẹ Việt Nam” which describes the pain of a mother who must see her sons off to war and longingly waits for words from them and their safe return.
In this show, Thúy Nga also paired Quang Lê with a new singer to Paris by Night, Mai Thiên Vân, in the song “Nước Non Ngàn Dặm Ra Đi”.
Using his experience on stage, Quang Lê improvised and teased Mai Thiên Vân at the end of the performance in order to advertise to the audience the release of the pairs’ upcoming duet album.
In this performance, Quang Lê provided the audience with a very moving song “Những Con Đường Trắng”, of him falling in love with a local traditional Vietnamese girl and then finding her body during the massacre.
After performing with Mai Thiên Vân in Paris By Night 92, Quang Lê was given the opportunity to sing with his idol singer Y Lan in the song “Tình Hoài Hương”.
As previously mentioned, he sang “Tình Nghèo” with Ngọc Hạ and “Áo Em Chưa Mặc Một Lần” and “Vòng Nhẫn Cưới” with Mai Thiên Vân.