ManhDan ManhDuy are Dan Chu and Duy Chu (pronounced: Dewey).
Twin brothers born in South Vietnam in 1965.They escaped from Vietnam and came to America as refugees in 1975 with 14 members in their family, among them was their mother, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews. Other than the nieces and nephews, they were the youngest in the family being only 10 years old. Their journey from Vietnam to America started in the city of Da Nang,Vietnam where they were born and raised. Toward the early...
ManhDan ManhDuy are Dan Chu and Duy Chu (pronounced: Dewey).
Twin brothers born in South Vietnam in 1965.They escaped from Vietnam and came to America as refugees in 1975 with 14 members in their family, among them was their mother, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews. Other than the nieces and nephews, they were the youngest in the family being only 10 years old. Their journey from Vietnam to America started in the city of Da Nang,Vietnam where they were born and raised. Toward the early spring of 1975, South Vietnam was being taken over by the North Vietnamese.
They had to escape further south to a city then known as Saigon.
However, the trip from Da Nang to Saigon was not an easy one. As the
soldiers from north Vietnam moved into the south, the American and
the south Vietnamese soldiers moved toward Saigon. The family took
shelter within the walls of Da Nang Air Force Base, where some South
Vietnamese military officers had five military choppers known as
“chinooks” that had been abandoned by retreating South
Vietnamese military due to lack of fuel. These men had hidden fuel to
help them escape with their families in these abandoned helicopters.
These men agreed to help the Chu family escape in one of the
chinooks. They arrived at the base shortly before the bombing began.
Due to the confusion and panic of the constant bombing and explosions
all around them the family was split up accidentally as they ran
screaming and crying to get aboard the departing chinooks. In one of
the helicopters was Dan and Duy with two of their sisters. The rest
of my family was split up to the other chinooks. They were
informed by the pilots that the chinooks did not have enough fuel to
make a non-stop flight to the city of Saigon. Because of this
situation, the pilots had to land en route to refuel. The pilots were
able to find the refueling area and landed one at a time to refuel.
The chinook that Dan and Duy were in was able to complete its
refueling and took off. The second chinook landed and it too
succeeded in refueling. The moment the second one took off the third
one landed, but that third chinook blew up before it was able to
refuel. They could all see the explosion from above and at that
moment they feared that some of their family had perished. They had
no way of knowing if their family members were in that chinook, so
all the twins and their sisters could do was pray and cry. The
remaining helicopters abandoned efforts to refuel and decided to try
and make it to Saigon. It was a
miracle that the family all made it to the refugee camp without
anyone dying. From the camp, they were flown on a cargo plane to the
American Navy ship and from there they were transported to a cargo
ship by the American soldiers. This cargo ship contained over 3000
refugees and it took them six nights and seven days to reach Guam.
They stayed on Guam for a several weeks and then were flown to the
Camp Pendleton refugee camp in California in another cargo plane.
They stayed at Camp Pendleton for a few more weeks until they got
sponsored by a church who took all of the family to Phoenix, Arizona.
A year later, the family was on its own in America. The whole family couldn't speak a single word in English, not even a yes
or a no. The only one who could understand a little English was the
oldest sister and her husband. They just knew how to communicate
enough for them to get by. As for a couple of scared little 10 years
old boys named Dan and Duy, they had to learn the language and they
had to learn it fast. Their singing career started in 1980 when they moved to Houston, Texas.
They joined a coffeehouse named Bon Phuong; in downtown Houston and performed all kinds of music from the eighties. They also
performed songs in Vietnamese to please the people of their
community. But deep down in their souls, they loved to sing in
English, and as Dan put it, "It's our passion". Nine years later, (1989) they relocated to Anaheim California for a change of
scenery and to further their career. They performed in a few coffeehouses and in one of the most popular dance ball rooms in Anaheim called the "Ritz". In 1998 due to the smoky
environments of these coffeehouses and nightclubs, they both
developed signs of lung damage and had to quit singing for a while
due to their doctor's order. They had to postpone their career
for a while. They moved back to Phoenix and both went into the
accounting field. 2009 saw their return to the music business with two auditions on "America Got talent" where judge and music promoter Piers Morgan commented, "I can image myself driving down the boulevard with the top down, and listening to these guys." He then gave them a yes vote. They now live in Las Vegas and are currently performing with the Be Young Band at the Gold Coast Casino showroom on Friday evenings.
show more...