FE ATU REJimmyBoi has just gotten home from dropping his kids
off at school. The father of the Instagram personality
Savannah Phan, aka “Ling Ling” (338,000 followers at the
time of printing), and little Jimmy has had a busy morning:
making them breakfast (buttermilk pancakes are Savan-
nah’s favorite), driving them to their respective private
schools, and checking in on the office to handle business.
Finally, he steals some time for himself and tells Character
Media his fascinating life story.
JimmyBoi was born in Alief, a suburb of Houston known
for its ghetto qualities and large Asian immigrant pop-
ulation. His parents met at a Houston nightclub, where
his mother hung out and his father, Anthony Phan, per-
formed as the drummer. “[My dad’s group the CBC Band]
introduced rock ‘n’ roll to Vietnam, so a lot of Vietnamese
people considered them playing the devil’s music,” Jim-
myBoi adds, describing them as the Beatles of Vietnam.
“So when, the war ended, Northern Vietnam put a whole
hit out on my family because they considered my family
traitors, because they played for the GIs. And they repre-
sented freedom for Southern Vietnam. They literally had
to sneak out by boat during the collapse of Southern Viet-
nam to avoid getting killed.” Their path toward freedom
wound through India, Tibet, Indiana and finally ended in
Houston, where his father met and married his mom.
“My mom was 18 when she had me,” JimmyBoi says.
“She left when I was a couple months old. At first she took
me with her, and it was an interesting year when I was
gone away from my dad. She ended up realizing that she
couldn’t take care of me, so she dropped me back off at my
dad’s doorstep. And from there, my dad was my guardian.
But he had a rock star lifestyle and was going on tour. So I
was really raised by my two cousins. And I had an aunt of
mine who was still alive who took care of me when they
went on tour.”
According to Phan, his son was musical as a child. Jim-
myBoi learned how to play the trombone, the piano and the
drums by ear. After all, he grew up backstage watching his
family members perform. One night after a show, he saw
his father get shot in the leg by an angry show promoter.
It wasn’t your average Asian American childhood: “Being
the first generation of Americans growing up in a family
where they were rock stars going on tour all the time, it was
kind of like a crossroads. Here I was being forced to go to
school and trying to be whatever they want me to be, such
CAN’T KNOCK THE HUSTLE “He’s a good father to his children,” says Anthony Phan. “He takes care of his
kids. He takes care of his woman.”