born in suphan buri province, he chose suraphol as his stage name. his first hit came in 1954 with "nam ta sao wieng" ("tears of a lao girl"). it marked the emergence of luk thung, a thai counterpart to such crooning styles as japanese enka and indonesian kroncong, and embodied such influences as hollywood film music, american country music, malay pop and afro-cuban rhythms.