Thái Thanh started her career before the First Indochina War when she was 14 years old, without any formal music education. She learned singing from her informal knowledge of northern Vietnamese folk singing and French music books, which she later fused in her performances. She was a member of her family-based band, Thăng Long, one of the first widely known music bands in Vietnam during the 20th century. She began her solo career and adopted her stage nameThái Thanh in 1950. Her older sister Phạm Thị Quang Thái was a famous singer under the stage name Thái Hằng, and her older brother Phạm Đình Chương was a prominent musical figure and singer under the stage name Hoài Bắc. Her brother-in-law was the leading songwriter Phạm Duy, who was married to Thái Hằng. In 1956, Thái Thanh married Lê Quỳnh, and they had three daughters and two sons together: Ý Lan, Lê Việt, Quỳnh Dao, Thanh Loan và Lê Đại.
Career
Thái Thanh later gained her prestige in the record industry and pop culture in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. She was famous for her performances of works by musicians including Đặng Thế Phong, Lê Thương, Văn Cao, Dương Thiệu Tước, Phạm Đình Chương, and especially Phạm Duy, her brother-in-law, with whom she had a long-lasting collaboration. Some of her most well-known songs, written by Phạm Duy, were Dòng sông xanh, Cho nhau, Nương chiều, Bà mẹ Gio Linh and Kỷ niệm. After 1975, Thái Thanh was banned from performing publicly due to her refusal to cooperate with the communist government of Vietnam. In 1985, she emigrated and became part of the Vietnamese musical diaspora in Orange County, California. Thái Thanh continued her music career amongst the Vietnamese community in the United States and Canada. In 2000, she suffered a brain haemorrhage, and announced her retirement in 2002, after 55 years of contribution to the music industry and pop culture of Vietnam throughout the 20th century. However, she did continue to appear on the music scene sporadically. Thái Thanh's unique style of singing combined Tonkinese folk music, French popular music, and Western opera. This pioneering singing style, had a significant impact on many younger singers and artists even after the Fall of Saigon.
Death
She died on March 17, 2020, in Orange County, California. In 2017, according to her eldest daughter Ý Lan, she had been in very poor health. According to the government-run newspaper Tuoi Tre, her voice was the most archetypal of Tân nhạc, and that she was 'a voice that spanned generations'. It described her death as a 'great loss' for Vietnamese music.
