Quang Le: 'I used to sing at weddings for a salary of 500 million VND'

The singer talked about the time he was paid well for singing in the country and did not mind performing at weddings.

- You were once proud that your adopted daughter Phuong My Chi was paid more than you when performing in the US. After many years of singing, what is your current salary?

- In Vietnam, my average salary is about 80 million VND per show, and on a "bad" day it's 50 million VND. Depending on the scale of the show, I can get paid two or three times more if I sing for brand events or weddings.

I don’t mind singing at weddings. I’ve lived in the US since I was a child, so I’m quite open-minded, and I don’t care about the location when I sing, as long as I have people supporting me. In fact, the highest fee I’ve ever received for singing at a wedding was 500 million VND. Another time, singer Le Quyen and I sang at her friend’s wedding, and her family gave me a watch worth more than 200 million VND.

Quang Le with his adopted daughter - singer Phuong My Chi.

In the US, my singing fee per show is about 6,000 USD (about 136 million VND), equal to that of my adopted daughter Phuong My Chi, which is among the highest in the overseas artist community. Many people look at it with admiration, but in fact, that number reflects my long career. When I first started my career, my salary was about 3,000 - 4,500 USD (68 million to more than 100 million VND) per show. Later, I worked mainly in the country, and every time I returned to the US to sing, my health was easily affected because of the long distance. The show organizers in the US understood and raised my salary.

I'm not afraid to make my salary public or be afraid that others will think I'm "overcharging" because I always know where I stand.

- You have been singing folk songs and Bolero for a long time. Where do you think you stand in the entertainment industry when more and more singers are following this path?

- I am confident that I have made an impression on the fans.For me, the more people sing Bolero, the more I like it. I am not afraid of being forgotten by the audience if there are many competing names and I am glad that Bolero is popular again. There was a time when this music genre was criticized by many young singers as "corny" and "rustic".

Nowadays, there are many young people who sing well, but to become famous and shine is very difficult because this music genre always has its own standards. When many singers sing after the veteran singers, but sing too similarly, not showing their own accents, the audience will only see them as copies of previous names such as Huong Lan, Nhu Quynh, Quang Le, Dan Nguyen... I understand their difficulties because in the early stages of singing, I was also easily influenced by my seniors, having to listen to them to sing again. But a smart person is someone who should not stand behind anyone's shadow.

Why have Huong Lan and Thanh Tuyen become brands after 55-60 years of singing? Why have their names not faded away, and why do they even perform more shows than the younger generation? Because their singing style has become the standard.

- How do you keep your image fresh?

- I believe that after singing a genre of music for a long time, you should find a new direction to develop. I often listen to many genres to get inspiration to sing more sweet folk and lyrical music. In the near future, I will challenge myself by singing and filming a music video for a pop song composed by Luong Bang Quang, as a way to refresh myself in the eyes of the audience.

Singing Bolero, I still follow singers like Son Tung M-TP, Soobin Hoang Son, Tien Cookie and Phan Manh Quynh. I recognize Son Tung or Phan Manh Quynhsing pop music butstill loved by many older audiences.Their music has many pentatonic scales, creating a sound close to thei fan of the genrelyrical and folk music. I have not had the opportunity to regularly interact with these young artists, so I still hope to collaborate with them when I have the chance.

*Quang Le and Ha My sing "It's not our fault"

- Half a year after breaking up with your girlfriend, how is your love life?

- At this time, I have not thought about having to look for a grave.t new relationshipI often spend a lot of time thinking about myself and burying myself in work. With my ex-girlfriend, I still regularly contact her and ask about her health. I get a lot ofaudienceold - married - showing affectionlove.But as a mature person, I want to keep a moderate distance to respect etiquette and live beautifully in the public eye.

* Quang Le talks about his love affair with his 9x girlfriend

- How are you preparing for the music night "Singing in the homeland 5" in early 2018?

- My biggest worry is that the audience will get bored and fall asleep because of the lack of connection between the performances. For example, in the program Singing in the Homeland 3, I performed 33 performances and finished at nearly 1am. Therefore, in the next concert, I will cut it down to 22 songs, each performance no longer than five minutes so that the audience will still be lingering when leaving.

Iin progressput all my efforts into this program. In the live show, I sang with many famous singers such as Thanh Tuyen, Giao Linh, Phuong Dung, Hoa My, Huong Lan, or colleagues such as Le Quyen, Dam Vinh Hung, Quang Linh...

Now Imore active domestically than in the US.In the past, I also had more students and adopted children thanks to sitting on the judge’s chair and training some reality TV shows. I want to do the show to create an annual stage, helping singers have more places to perform as well as get closer to the public.

According to VNE