Giao Linh's real name is Do Thi Sinh. She was born on September 8, 1949. A natural performer since her youth, Giao Linh began taking music lessons as a child. Despite her father's disapproval, her mother secretly hired a teacher to teach young Giao Linh music. She joined Nguyen Ba Tong middle school's entertainment group when she was 9 years old.
In 1966, representing Air Vietnam, Giao Linh won the gold medallion in the Kim Hoang entertainment contest. The following year, while under the tutelage of musician Nguyen Van Dong (of Chieu Mua Bien Gioi's fame) , she entered a singing contest at Quoc Thanh Theater. She was introduced as a bonafide singer on that day, and received great ovation from the audience. As she recalled, "I was so scared when people started to yell and made such a ruckus after I finished and went back stage. It was only later that the promoter came to tell me that they (the audience) liked my singing, and they wanted an encore".
Giao Linh is described as a singer with great talent. She appeared on vietnamese television for the first time in 1969. This appearance brought her instant stardom as she was dubbed "Nu+~ Hoa`ng Sa^`u Muo^.n" or "the Empress of Sorrow" . This was largely due to her style of singing, her choice of songs, and the melancholy in her voice. Giao Linh made famous such songs as Lo`ng Me., Mu`a Sao Sa'ng, Tie^'ng Xu+a, Ma`u Ti'm Pensee and Nhu+~ng Ddo'm Ma('t Hoa? Cha^u.
Giao Linh left Vietnam in 1982 and resettled in San Jose. She continued her career built on the fan base of fellow refugees and received great success from the beginning. Her most successful performance since her stay in the United States was a concert in Canada produced by musician Nguyen Manh Cuong. However, when asked about her most memorable performance, she said without hesitation, "it would have to be the time I performed in U Minh (Mekong Delta), where I was attacked by DDo^`ng Tha'p mosquitoes and had to use a mosquito net while putting on make-up".
To date Giao Linh has participated in many of the major shows and vietnamese music videos produced here in the US. She also formed her own production company to produce her own CDs, Music Videos, and Karaoke Discs. Her recent CD "Ma`u Ti'm Pensee" was well received and she is currently working on her latest, "DDe^m Ru DDie^.u Nho+'". Today, Giao Linh still travels to various locales worldwide to perform. She is also a regular at San Jose's Lido Club.
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