Wanbi Tuấn Anh

Early years

Nguyễn Tuấn Anh was born on January 9, 1987 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in a family with no one follows showbiz. Around the age of 12, he joined the Tuổi Trẻ theatre group for three months. At high school, he studied at Trưng Vương High School. The opportunity to take pictures for teenage newspapers and advertisements constantly, making him the hot boy of the school. Tuấn Anh shared that, suddenly getting attention at that time made him a little neglectful of learning. In Year 12, his family worried so transferred him to study at Bùi Thị Xuân High School (District 1). There was a company invited him to join a new band, but he refused, partly because he doesn't fit in with the music that the company raised and he wanted to concentrate on the final test. After graduating from high school, he asked his parents to take a year off before studying in design. This was the turning point that brought Tuấn Anh to professional singing.^[4]

Start

In 2005, Tuấn Anh won the first prize in his career as an "Impressive Face" of the competition "Diễn viên triển vọng 2005" held by the Ho Chi Minh City Film Festival. One year later, he won the "VTN" Hot VTeen Award.^[5] He participated in the contest "Video clip of you" by the Center Cable Television - Television Ho Chi Minh City and has impressed the audience through two songs "Cho Em" and "Từng Ngày Qua", which are two songs he composed by himself and presented for the first time.

This time, his song "Cho Em" spread quickly after he posted in his personal blog. Tuấn Anh started being invited to perform at some junior high school and many young people even established fan-club for him so the idea of becoming a professional singer appeared. Tuấn Anh knows his voice isn't excellent but he has the advantage of being able to compose and is known through the role model teen. He decided to spend three years trying to sing and if failing, he would return to study.^[6]

Debut Album

January 18, 2008 marked the beginning of his professional singing career with a mini-concert in the Tea Room of Saigon. In 2008, Tuấn Anh joined singer Tóc Tiên in the song "Kem Dâu Tình Yêu". The song gained popularity among young people and entered many music charts and the name Wanbi Tuấn Anh spread in the community of music due to the rapid spread of the song on the Internet. Late 2008, as the exclusive singer of Ya! Entertainment, Wanbi released his debut album, Wanbi 0901, featuring nine songs, four of which were purchased exclusively by Nguyễn Hồng Thuận, Nguyễn Hải Phong and Liêu Hưng and five songs he composed by himself with ballads to R&B and alternative rock style. Composer Vũ Quốc Bình commented that the album WanBi 0901 was one of the first proper albums at that time. The song "Đôi Mắt" with R&B style has become a big phenomenon. This song has topped the charts like "Làn Sóng Xanh", "Zing Top Song", "Yeah1 Countdown". The song "Cho Em" he sang with Thùy Chi on the album, quickly topped the list songs being heard the most.^[7]

2009: Duet album, Làn Sóng Xanh award and film

On June 8, 2009, on behalf of his friend Tóc Tiên, who was went to the United States to study, to launch the album "Chuyện Tình Vượt Thời Gian" includes the first songs released on the album as "Kem Dâu Tình Yêu", "Dự Báo Trái Tim", "Thiên Đường Nắng Mai", and old songs mixed in various styles.^[8] The idea of making an album came from a friend's suggestion when they went to karaoke fans to celebrated a friend's birthday, when Wanbi Tuấn Anh and Tóc Tiên randomly co-opted the popular songs for duet. The album was made in two months at Nguyễn Hải Phong's 23rd degree studio. As for the singing of old music, WanBi said, "This album is an improvised song. (...) WanBi just wants to change his audience's taste, and expand it to many audiences. (...). ". Also on June 8, his debut album, Wanbi 0901, won the "Most Popular Album" award for his June album Gold. In late 2009, success with Wanbi came when he and the female singer Thu Thủy were honored with the "Impressive Face of Làn Sóng Xanh" award.^[9] In this year, he also joined the movie industry with guest roles in the movie Áo Cưới Thiên Đường.^[10]

2010: Thăng (#) and Bắt Sóng Cảm Xúc

In 2010, WanBi Tuấn Anh released the album vol.2 entitled Thăng (#) with his own compose musics. Not only writing about love, he also experimented with many other topics of life. The music style of the album is uniquely thought-provoking but different in color.^[11] Sharing the work of this album, Wanbi said it was a challenge because he wasn't a professional musician. He had to write over 20 songs and chose the ten best songs for this album. The soundtrack of the album was performed for over a year. The song "Chắp Cánh" features the rap artists of Đông Nhi this also marks the first time they sing together. Also in 2010, he also decided to join the film Bóng Ma Học Đường (former name is Hồn ma siêu quậy) directed by Lê Bảo Trung - the first film in Vietnam was made with a 3D camera.^[12] In the film, he plays Minh Quân - the son of writer Nam Linh (played by Hoài Linh), a poor, timid and a little naive student was pursued by teenager ghost.

In September 2010, WanBi released the DVD single "Bắt Sóng Cảm Xúc" sponsored by Mobifone, the music video for "Bắt Sóng Cảm Xúc" released widely and warmly received by young people.^[13]

2011: Dấu Vết, Hóa Cơn Mưa and Phải Làm Thế Nào

On March 8, 2011, he released his music video Dấu Vết with Kang Ha Neul. This is the sequel to "Vụt Mất" in 2010, which quickly climbed into the charts to become his new hit. He also pioneered the filming of the sequel to the previous series in Vietnam.^[14]

MV Hoá Cơn Mưa to the audience in mid-2011 showed that a WanBi completely stripped with the image of dusty leather and hair comb up differently from other times. Wanbi co-starred with Miu Lê in the MV, however the MV was not as successful as he expected.^[15]

In November 11, 2011, Wanbi released the MV Phải Làm Thế Nào. This is a song he composed with C-Pop sound with easy listening lyrics, which helped the song become a hit for him at the end of 2011.

2012: Tìm Thấy, Thật Lòng Anh Xin Lỗi and Ký Ức Chôn Sâu

In early 2012, the last part of the trio of tracks and also the sequel to Dấu Vết, the MV Tìm Thấy, was released. Two MVs were shot for this song including dance version and story version.

In the middle of the year until August 2012, WanBi has released two MV Thật Lòng Anh Xin Lỗi and Ký Ức Chôn Sâu. In Thật Lòng Anh Xin Lỗi, WanBi plays as a narrator while the illustrations are assigned to his younger sister Quỳnh Mi and his close friend VJ Dustin Nguyễn and in Ký Ức Chôn Sấu, he plays with Kang Ha Neul again, this is also the last MV of his singing career.

Disease

In October 2012, WanBi Tuấn Anh announced his break from singing and revealed that he had a pituitary tumor in the brain. According to his doctor, "the disease is very rare, average of 1 million people in the world there is only one case." Wanbi said he had been diagnosed four years earlier, after his father died, and had received surgery in Singapore.^[16]

On the evening of November 1, 2012, many artists celebrated the night "Cảm Ơn" at the Temple of the Reclining Buddha (Ho Chi Minh City) to donate money to help with a cure, raising 1 billion VND. The music video "Cảm Ơn" by the singer Hồ Ngọc Hà started with the participation of 15 artists were bought by zing.vn site for 100 million. All proceeds from the song download in November were donated to support Wanbi Tuấn Anh.^[17][18]

Death

At midnight on July 20, 2013, WanBi's family took him to hospital because he had a high fever and couldn't breathe, but at his request he was taken home next morning. There, doctors put him on a ventilator. On the afternoon of July 21, he stopped breathing of his own accord and was declared brain dead, so doctors removed his ventilator around 4.00 pm. Tuấn Anh passed away at 4:23 pm on July 21, 2013. He was just 26 years old.^[19]

The ceremony took place at Wanbi Tuấn Anh's home in Da Kao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City on the morning of July 24, 2013. Wanbi's funeral was covered in white and blue, as his hope when he still alive. His body was taken to the Cremation Center in Bình Hưng Hòa Cemetery for cremation. His remains were brought to a temple in Phú Nhuận district and placed next to his father, while the ashes were sprayed into the Saigon River from the Phú Mỹ Bridge, where he filmed the MV "Bắt Sóng Cảm Xúc".^[20]

In September 2013, a star was named Wanbi Tuấn Anh.^[21]

Bắt Đầu Từ Một Kết Thúc and the final album

On the occasion of what would have been WanBi's 27th birthday, the autobiography "Bắt Đầu Từ Một Kết Thúc" was released. It tells WanBi's journey of singing while fighting with his disease for 4 years, and was written by Lý Minh Tùng - a journalist and WanBi's manager. The autobiography was started in 2009 and was interrupted, then continued after his funeral for a week.^[22]

Along with his autobiography is his last album - Nụ Cười Còn Mãi included many songs that WanBi had recorded but had not yet released. All proceeds from autobiography and album were donated to Cảm Ơn fund by WanBi Tuấn Anh to help the needy children in the Angel Institute.^[23]

Evaluation

According to many reporters and artists, WanBi Tuấn Anh was a dutiful, good-natured and polite singer. In any job, WanBi is also very responsible. With many people, WanBi is "the guy does not frown". He always smiles friendly, enough to warm the heart of the others. After his father's death, Tuấn Anh became the breadwinner and worked tirelessly to support his mother and raise his younger sister. WanBi passed away at the age of 26 is really a big loss and shock to the artist and the Vietnamese audience.^[24]

Studio albums

• Wanbi 0901 (2008)
• Chuyện Tình Vượt Thời Gian (with Tóc Tiên) (2009)
• Thăng (#) (2010)
• Nụ cười Còn Mãi Vol. Cuối (2014)

Compilation albums

• Khúc Ca Cho Em (2014)

Singles

• "Vụt Mất" (2010)
• "Bắt Sóng Cảm xúc" (2010)
• "Dấu Vết" (2011)
• "Tìm Thấy" (2012)
• "Thật Lòng Anh Xin Lỗi" (2012)
• "Ký Ức Chôn Sâu (2012)
• "Cảm ơn" (2012)

Music videos