I was born in Battambang, Cambodia. My parents survived and escaped the genocide, known as "The Killing Fields" and we settled in Seattle, WA in the same year. I was five months old. My youngest memory of singing was when I was four...we never had money and while my parents worked, I kept myself entertained with my favorite toy, a record player. I spun those Sesame Street records until the grooves were worn out! My mom would come home exhausted at the end of the day and I'd still be singing at what must've been the top of my lungs, because she'd tell me in a thick Asian accent, "No khon (KHON is the Cambodian word for child), you can no sing, you don't have voice. Ok. Now go make rice." So I'd go into the kitchen and make the rice, but I never stopped singing...