Phương Tâm

For a couple of years in the mid-'60s, a young woman named Phương Tâm was the toast of Saigon's pop music scene. Almost a decade into the Vietnam War, the country was receiving a massive influx of American soldiers, bringing with them popular Western trends, dance crazes, and musical styles. With her innate charisma and highly adaptable voice, the teenaged Tâm was able to fuse together myriad Western influences from rock & roll and surf music to jazz ballads, pop, and soul. After rising to the top of the night club circuit as one of the country's first rock singers and recording a prolific spate of hit singles, Tâm left the entertainment world in 1966 and her music fell into obscurity. In 2021, with the help of London-based producer Mark Gergis, Tâm's daughter helped track down nearly all of her recorded output, resulting in the career retrospective Magical Nights - Saigon Surf Twist & Soul (1964-1966).