Ninh Cát Loan Châu

Ninh Thế Loan Châu, stage name Ninh Cát Loan Châu (born September 15, 1973) is a Vietnamese American singer.[1] She was first discovered in 1996 by musical director Truc Ho at Asia Production. Her real name is Ninh The Loan Châu, however she combined her parents' first names (Cát, from her father and Loan, from her mother) to come up with the stage name Ninh Cát Loan Châu. She attended Đoàn Thị Điểm elementary school and Marie Curie High School. Loan Châu came to the United States in 1991, and reunited with her family in Westminster, California.

Loan Châu is the only musically inclined person in her family. As she recalled, her first experience in front of an audience was around the age of six where she sang in front of her classmates. At the age of 8, Loan Châu began writing children songs to perform for her friends. Due to this unusual gift, the teachers in her school took notice and allowed her to be part of a group of children in the entertainment committee. Her other musical activities involved being a part of her church's choir since a very early age. Loan Châu fondly talks about this period as one of the most memorable part of her childhood. In 1995, four years after arriving in California, Loan Châu won top honors at a karaoke contest at Ritz night club in Orange County. In 1996, after a meeting with Trúc Hồ, Loan Châu signed an exclusive contract with Asia Entertainment and became one of the organization's many bright young stars. In April 1997, Loan Châu sang in her first gig in Virginia where she was paid for the first time for her singing.[2] In 2000, Loan Châu established her own music label called "Loan Châu Music" and also signed on to sing exclusively for Thúy Nga Productions.