Her enormous success and popularity as a performer of Vietnamese songs and cabaret singer belie her origins.
She was born in Muncie, Indiana and raised in Orlando, Florida and is of Scandinavian-Scotch-Irish ancestry. She launched her career as a singer at age 3 in her Sunday school class singing "Jesus Love Me". At age 13 she taught herself how to play the guitar and write songs.At 16 she was already singing in several languages including Chinese and was performing at several local Asian restaurants. She was at a Chinese restaurants with her family where Vietnamese music was being played and was attracted to its haunting beauty which she brings out so well in her exquisite music. She was given a tape of a Vietnamese song ( Qua Cau Gio Bay ), by an Asian restaurateur, to see if she could learn it. He was so impressed with her asked her to sing with a band that he had. After this she became very sought-after via word of mouth. A Canadian night club owner invited her to sing at his club. He sent a video of her performance to the owner of a Vietnamese night club ( The Ritz ) in Little Saigon. He was so impressed invited her to sing at the Ritz.
In 1990 she made her first appearance in Little Saigon, Orange County, California the center of the Vietnamese community in North America. Since then she has been recording CDs, DVDs, and Videos and performing all over the world wherever there is a Vietnamese community. Her fame spread to Vietnam itself though her pirated CDs. She performed in Vietnam for the first time in July 2000. She has her own unique voice and range, with a beautiful low register ( which she knows how to use ). She has mastered the art of singing, recording and performing and has become a world class performer, artist and diva in her own right whose music would be at home in a cabaret, a pop concert or as it would be in Carnegie Hall.