Disabled singer Duc Minh, a household name in Ho Chi Minh City’s cabarets and nightclubs, poses with his wife and son in their house in HCMC

A man rises from his disability to light up nightclubs across Ho Chi Minh City unlikely cabaret star.

But it took even more than the normal amount of courage for Duc Minh, whom polio had robbed of the use of his left leg, via myasthenia, when he was just eight months old.

However, Minh is now perhaps HCMC’s most popular nightclub singer. He mesmerizes audiences every night with oldies, love songs by Trinh Cong Son and English songs like “Unchain My Heart.”

New kid on the block

Minh says it was his older brother who initially inspired in him the confidence he needed to sing. His brother encouraged Minh to pursue art and gave the singer his first classical guitar. Minh took to the instrument immediately, playing every day for hours.

In the 80s, Minh began learning to sing and play foreign pop hits and word spread around town that there was a passionate young guitar player who matched aptitude with a unique style.

He was then hired to play with the Tuoi Tre (Youth) Circus and then Huong Mien Nam (Southern Fragrance) Music Troupe. In his four years playing with the troupes from 1982-1986, Minh branched out to also become a master of the electronic organ.

In 1987, he began playing less with the troupes and more as a bandsman for dance halls. In the dancehalls he would even sing sometimes, “just for fun” he says, adding that he never thought about becoming a professional singer.

‘Fairy tale’

But one night at the Intershop dance hall in 1990, Minh had to fill in when both headlining singers failed to show up. Duc Minh’s tenor voice won over the audience immediately with both soulful Vietnamese classics and new foreign hits.

He continued singing and received standing ovations every night. Still nervous about standing and singing in front of large audiences with his bad leg, it took Minh a little time to get used to his new role. But his shyness soon faded and he began touring all of HCMC’s major cabarets like Dong Dao, Dem Mau Hong, Dong Kinh, and Thanh Nien.

At center stage and with the spotlight thrust on him for the first time in his life, offers began rolling in for Minh to fill larger venues. Big-time concert promoters began calling as did TV stations, but Minh says he wasn’t cut out for stardom and preferred a more modest life. He said he agreed with many of his fans who said his voice was simply perfect for the small, cozy atmosphere of the cabaret. He said he did not want to ruin that by taking his songs into arena concerts.

His decision to stay in the cabaret won him greater respect from his fans and nightclub connoisseurs.

Minh calls it: “a happy ending to my life’s fairy tale.”

Love of a life

For six months in 2001, Minh received a bouquet of flowers from a secret fan every night.

Minh eventually found out that the flowers’ sender was a pre-school teacher named Anh Thu. The two met, fell in love and then married in 2006. Now, their eight-month-old-son Luong Minh Anh is their pride and joy. Thu says her love and admiration for Minh came naturally and Minh is happy to have found his life-partner.

“What is my dream?” he said. “I am satisfied with my happy family, I’m just hoping to save enough money to buy our own house with a private studio… I’ll sing until my last breath.”

Reported by Ha Dinh Nguyen