Trần Lập

The band is considered to have the largest fanbase and most persistent activity in Vietnam, having "Đường đến ngày vinh quang" ("The Road to Glory Days") as their signature song.

Trần Quyết Lập was born on 12 December 1974 in Vụ Bản district,[1] Nam Định province, Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

[5] In May 2006, during Bức Tường's long hiatus, Lập was asked to host Hanoi Radio Television's game show "Vượt qua thử thách" ("The Vault").

The band is considered to have the largest fanbase and most persistent activity in Vietnam, having "The Road to Glory Days" as their signature song.

[8] In 2004 in an interview with channel VTV3, Lập said that he had added the band's best songs from two albums, Tâm hồn của đá (The Soul of Rock) and Vô hình (Invisible) to the setlist of a performance named "Bông hồng thủy tinh" ("Crystal Rose") that was held in Phan Đình Phùng Arena.

[5] After the success of the show "Những hòn đá lăn" ("The Rolling Stones") in November, Bức Tường was ready to release their fourth album with many new songs.

[16] "Last Saturday" took place at the Giảng Võ Exhibition Center in Hanoi, and 20,000 fans attended; it was the largest audience of any of Bức Tường's shows.

[8] In 2013, they performed for the television show "Dấu ấn" ("Legacy") in Nguyen Du Arena in Ho Chi Minh City.

[22] On 14 December, Lập and his bandmates performed on tour in Da Nang; this show was well received by Vietnamese rock fans.

[32] On 4 November 2015, Lập revealed on his fanpage that he had "begun a fight with cancer", after which he received messages of encouragement from Tuấn Hưng, Chí Trung, Phạm Anh Khoa, and others.

[35][36] On the evening of 6 November, Lập underwent nearly four hours of surgery to remove a colorectal tumor; by noon of the next day he awoke and said that he was fine.

[44] However, according to Lập's last wishes and his family's request, he was buried in Thiên Đức Cemetery, Phù Ninh district, Phú Thọ province.

[50] In an online interview with the Vietnamese electronic magazine Zing, he revealed a Sagittarius tattoo chosen for his zodiac sign.

[52] On 3 December 2014, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City heard a civil lawsuit for digital rights against the VNG Corporation.

In the lawsuit Lập accused VNG of having kept a recording of his song "The Road to Glory Days" uploaded on the music website Zing MP3 for a long time without his permission.

[56] VNG did not agree to pay compensation to Lập and claimed that, although they are the owners of the mp3.zing.vn website, Zing MP3's recorded audio content was uploaded by users and not by them.

[57][58] Two days after Lập's death, the president of the Vietnam Musicians Association announced that it and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism would award him a posthumous honorary medal.

[60] Almost all of Bức Tường's thirty songs (all written by Lập) have been covered by numerous bands and artists, such as Microwave, Ngũ Cung, Tùng Dương, Anh Khoa, and Tạ Quang Thắng.

[61] Two years after Lập's death, Bức Tường reunited for a show titled "Ngày trở về" ("Return Date").

[63] The current leader of Bức Tường, guitarist Trần Tuấn Hùng, revealed that Lập would be featured in a special way on the live show "Trở về" ("Return") held at the Hanoi University of Civil Engineering.

[64] In the show "Music Home" that aired on channel FPT on 28 May 2021, Lập's wife for the first time told stories of his early life and revealed secrets about the beauties mentioned in his songs.

[7] During his lifetime, Lập not only established himself in Vietnam's rock scene, but also starred in film and television and served as an ambassador, consultant, executive producer and director of music shows.

Lập and his band, Bức Tường in 2012
Lập (center, white shirt) with Bức Tường band in a liveshow named Nhiệt in 2011.