Lê Trung Thành (born October 13, 1997), formed by V-MAS - a Vietnam entertainment agency which manages artists contain Lan Khue, Erik, DTAP, Phuong My Chi and produces music for artists and brands. He also known by his stage name Erik, is a Vietnamese singer and dancer. He joined The Voice Kids of Vietnam in 2013 and later became a member of Monstar. He has won four nominations at the Dedication Music Award, and was the only artist nominated twice for the "New Artist of the Year" category.
Life and career
1997–2015: Childhood and The Voice Kids of Vietnam
Erik was born on October 13, 1997, in Hanoi. At first, his family opposed Erik of choosing an art path, but eventually came into an agreement to allow Erik to pursue his music career if he passed the Blind Auditions on The Voice Kids of Vietnam in 2013. He managed to pass the round, and joined coach Hiền Thục. Erik later finished 15th place on the program. In addition to his participation in The Voice Kids of Vietnam, Erik also participated in a number of other music competitions and received encouraging achievements.
After his appearance on The Voice Kids of Vietnam 2013, Erik participated in St.319 Entertainment's intership contest in January 2015 and was officially selected to be the company's trainee, following a comprehensive training contract, modelled after the Korean entertainment industry.
2016–17: "Sau tất cả" and "Ghen" After the training period, Erik officially debuted with his first song entitled "Sau tất cả" (lit. After All) on January 11, 2016, on appearing the YouTube channel of St.319 Entertainment. Two days later, another video was released for Erik's debut, suggesting him to be the first member of the project group, Monstar. On January 15, the official music video for "Sau tất cả" was released on St.319 Entertainment's YouTube channel. The song quickly gained attention, not only in the V-pop fandom but also by the general public during the first half of 2016, bring him fame and awards. Sau tất cả was also on the list of "Classic Sayings on Social Media in 2016" voted by VnExpress, in addition to being covered by many singers, celebrities and international fans. In the mainstream media, this song was dubbed as the "national song" of Vietnam. The Vietnamese magazine, Hoa Học Trò noted the success of the song made viewers "'startled' by a few rookies using their feet" on showbiz but had an impressive pitch and had such a lasting impact.
In the first half of 2016, Erik participated in recording for two soundtrack songs including "Yeu & Yeu" (Love & Love) which is the OST of the movie "Benh vien ma" (Ghost Hospital) and "Tôi là ai trong em" (Who am I in you) of the movie "Taxi! Em tên gì? (Taxi! What's your name?). In the second half of 2016, after releasing the recording and choreography of the song "Turn It Up", on September 6, St.319 Entertainment officially released the MV for the debut of a new group called Monstar consisting of three members, Erik, Nicky, Key, in which Erik is the main vocal of the group. In December, as a Vietnam-Korea Tourism Ambassador selected by the Korea National Administration of Tourism, Monstar participated in a series of tourism promotion activities in Korea, in which the highlight was the launch of The music video promoting Korean tourism is titled "Love Rain". The MV features actress Choi Jin Hee, who played the role of nurse Park Kwan Hee in the movie Descendants of the Sun. In the last days of 2016 and the beginning of 2017, Erik continued to release another solo product of his, the song "Lạc nhau có phải muôn đời" (Is it lost forever), this is the OST song for the movie "Chờ em đến ngày mai" (Waiting for you until tomorrow). The song includes an audio track and an MV. This song and the success of the previous soundtrack songs helped Erik be officially nicknamed by the media and the audience as "The Prince of Soundtrack". Participating in the MV has the presence of two main actors, model Quang Dai and Miss Teen 2012 Thu Trang.