In 1994 during a sponsored series of concerts in the United States, Vietnamese protesters accused her of colluding with the Hanoi government and being a communist sympathizer.

Although both of Lan's parents were from Nghệ An, known as a "throat-clear voice area" (the equivalent of received pronunciation in Britain or "standard" Italian or French), she lived in a Northern community in her childhood.

[5] She studied piano at Saint Paul's school, run by the Sisters of Christian Charity, and she remains Roman Catholic.

She later studied with Trần Anh Đào (composer Thẩm Oánh's wife), and musician Nghiêm Phú Phi.

Part of her goal in translating into Vietnamese was to make both the words and music and their specific cultural meanings accessible to a much wider audience.

[9] "Students Singing" included a nude scene that generated controversy in the Southern press, with several tabloids calling Lan a "sexy bomb," or using the highly euphemistic term "princess of gifted arts.

"[10] Film critics were more positive, however, and she received the Promising Actress prize at National Award of Literature and Arts ceremony.

In 1974, Japanese director Norio Osada[12] traveled to Saigon to make the film Number Ten Blues with stars from both Japan and Vietnam.

During a Congressionally-sponsored series of concerts in the United States in 1994 on a three-month visa, she initially planned a tour, and she registered at the USCIS office as "Catherine Pham," her saint's name at birth (加大肋納•范).

[18] Protestors were later re-angered in part by President Bill Clinton's decision to end the trade embargo with Vietnam, but these demonstrations were quieter, and Lan was no longer a target because of her asylum status.

After Ngọc Lan's death there was also a decline in interest surrounding pop française, so she collaborated again with Trần Thiện Thanh, focusing on songs of soldiers.

They [were] real warriors and also really into the battle, but nowadays no ones can answer that how was their fates after the fall... About 2012, an old Number Ten Blues tape was found and restored by NHK's experts.

However, she did return to Saigon to guest star on the Vietnamese TV show "Happy Memories, Season 2," a program on channel VTV3.

Her husband - Mr. Dũng - was a man from the Long Biên district of Hanoi whose family had settled in Dalat after Operation Passage to Freedom.