Tran Thien Thanh: "Four pillars of golden music", used to go underground, lived in deprivation, marriage 2 times broke down

Tran Thien Thanh is a prominent name of golden music, successful as both a musician and a singer, hailed as one of the "four pillars of golden music", talented but also very challenging, especially his career in the last years of his life.

Musician Tran Thien Thanh in 1942 in Phan Thiet and died in 2005 in the US. In addition to being a musician, Tran Thien Thanh is known as the most famous singer under the stage name Nhat Truong and is considered as one of the four most famous male voices of golden music.

Tran Thien Thanh was born in 1942 in Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan. From an early age he loved to sing. Later, when he became a singer under the stage name Nhat Truong, he shared the story of his chosen stage name: "When I was young, I liked to sing a lot, but my parents didn't let me. So I had to wait until the night for my parents to go to bed before daring to sing. Sometimes during the day I crave to sing too much, but I have to wait until the evening, seeing that the star day is terribly long, so I choose the name Nhat Truong, which means ... long day." Although he was forbidden to sing by his parents, his love and passion for music and singing were not buried in him.

He came to Saigon in 1958 and finished school and worked as a high school teacher. He then graduated from the Noncommissioned Officers School in 1965, serving in the Psychological Warfare Department of the General Staff of the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces until the end of April 1975.

In the early 1960s, he formed Nhat Truong Quartet consisting of him and 3 female singers: Nhu Thuy (his sister), Van Quynh and Diem Chi. With his elaborate and endowed voice, he conquered the Saigon music lovers at that time. During this time, besides singing, he also began composing music.

Also in the early 60s, Tran Thien Thanh's compositions contributed to the name of female singer Phuong Dung. With the song "Ta from the night" by musician Tran Thien Thanh, she won many prestigious awards such as "Gold Medal" for Best Performing Singer and Most Popular Female Singer in 1965.

In the late '60s, he often took the stage in military uniform to sing soldier music. During his singing career, he often sang and acted with singer Thanh Lan. The combination between the two made the name Nhat Truong - Thanh Lan become the most popular couple, leading to a lot of speculation surrounding his love story.

In dramas with the theme of soldiers, Nhat Truong often acted with Thanh Lan. He used to make music scenes about Captain Nguyen Van Duong in which he played the soldier and Thanh Lan played the wife of the rear Nguyen Thi Le. This is a performance that attracts many TV viewers and this series of musical scenes has been turned into a movie called On the top of winter shown on Vietnam Television.

In addition to Nhat Truong, he also used some other stage names such as Anh Chuong (his first son's name) or Tran Thien Thanh Toan (in memory of his deceased brother).

It can be said that he was very successful as a singer when he was ranked in the ranks of the Four Golden Pillars. However, when talking about him, people often talk a lot about his talent for composing. With a fortune of about 200 songs, his compositions are mainly about love and soldiers. Some of his typical works can be mentioned as: Dating Story, The Shirt of the Three Grandmothers (folk song), Han Mo Tzu, Virgin Flower, Love Castle, His Winter, Meeting to Ignore ...

In terms of composition, the two major themes in Tran Thien Thanh's composition are love and soldiership. He composed many songs about soldiers, but his soldiers' music was not vindictive, harsh, agitated or melancholy, tragic but often playfully pure, poetizing and romanticizing arduous soldiers' lives. With his songwriting skills, his name is always mentioned along with typical musicians of golden music such as Truc Phuong, Lam Phuong, Anh Bang, Hoang Thi Tho...

He served as Chief Artistic Officer of the Voice of the Army, which had two separate programs of War Season Music broadcast from 12:05 until 12:55 p.m. on Mondays and Sing 20 at 6:15 p.m. on Mondays on Voice of the Army. After 1968, he was in charge of additional war reportage.

After the events of April 30, 1975, he was on the list of banned artists. In 1984, he was licensed to operate again, but he refused to work for the new regime.

In 1993, he immigrated to the United States under family reunification but encountered some problems with legal residency so Tran Thien Thanh was not legalized as an immigrant. It wasn't until May 2004, a year before his death, that he received his green card so he could perform outside the United States. Therefore, once the MC of the Asia center lamented that Tran Thien Thanh's fate was "beyond a long time without seeing a green card".

When coming to the United States, Tran Thien Thanh collaborated with a number of centers such as: Asia Center, Văи Village Center, Cloud Center, Hoan My Center ... and founded his own label called Nhat Truong Proᴅuctions.

Tran Thien Thanh married his first wife Tran Thi Lien in Phan Thiet when he was less than 20 years old, and the two moved to Saigon together afterwards. The couple has 4 children together - 2 boys and 2 girls, Anh Chuong, Thanh Tran, Thanh Truc and Anh Chau. However, the two parted ways some time before the events of April 30, 1975.

At the time of having his first children, musician Tran Thien Thanh was working as a teacher, in very difficult circumstances. At that time, his wife was pregnant but had no money, so he had to sell his first song, The Trip to the Morning, to musician Manh Phat to raise money to support the family. Thus, although the song "Trip to the Morning" was released with the name of musician Manh Phat, it is a complete composition of musician Tran Thien Thanh.

During his stay in Vietnam after 1975, Nhat Truong went on underground tours in the Western provinces and lived with Kim Dung – who was also previously a singer in the Central Arts Troupe.

Tran Thien Thanh and his 2nd wife Kim Dung

Tran Thien Thanh married a second time and had a son named Anh Chinh with Kim Dung, but after his happiness broke down, Kim Dung now has another family in Vietnam. After his breakup with Kim Dung, he lived with My Lan in Southern California.

In his later years, he struggled with a serious illness, lung cancer, and died at his home in Westminster, Orange County, California on May 13, 2005. His body was cremated and brought back to Vietnam, worshipped at Phuoc Hue Pagoda, Bao Loc City, Lam Dong.