In July 2010, he came to Santa Clara, California to perform at a concert. Security was heavy in expectation of protests by Vietnamese Americans, many of whom see him as a symbol of the communist government which they fled. Activist Ly Tong dressed up in drag to slip through security, and under the pretext of giving Dam a flower, sprayed Dam in the face with pepper spray. Dam Vinh Hung was born in Da Nang (Quảng Nam Province) in 1971.. His grandfather was French-Vietnamese, his grandmother was originated from China, his mother is from Quang Nam Province. He also has one sibling. Dam began his musical career in 1996. Before pursuing singing career, he was a hair dresser. When he was young, he studied at Secondary School Ngo Quyen and High School Nguyen Thuong Hien located in District Tan Binh, Ho Chi Minh City. He used to work lots of jobs to make ends meet including hair dresser and back up singer in various music shows. He joined Young Singers Club at Culture Center of District 10 since 1991. After winning first prize at the singing contest which was held by Culture Company of District 10 to discover new talents in 1992, he started to pursue professional music career afterward. He self-learned piano and did research on vocal technique and performance style. In 1998, after 8 times of competing, he won 4th prize of Ho Chi Minh City The Voice of Television Contest which used to be very famous back then. In 1999, he made to the Top 10 Potential Voices of Saigon Music Center among other 300 contestants. He won The Most Excellent Singer prize in the contest which was held by Ben Thanh Theater's Young Audience Music Club from September 2000 – September 2001. This is considered to be the milestone of his career. His two songs "Tình Ơi Xin Ngủ Yên" (Please sleep tight my love) and "Bình Minh Sẽ Mang Em Đi" (The sunset will take you away) were famous and widely recognized by everyone, indeed becoming a remarkable milestone of his music career. At the beginning of his career, his unique sharp voice resembles Vietnames-American singer Don Ho and he often sang with very strong intonation at the end of each lyrics. Afterward, he chose to sing pre-war songs, romance songs and golden songs. Apparently, beside being actively singing, he also owns an entertainment agency, a restaurant, some food brands, and being a coach of some TV reality music shows.