   ros serey sothea () (1948reference note date=september 2009 &ndash; 1977|date=september 2009) was a famous singer during the final years of cambodia's sangkum reastr niyum and the khmer republic. she sang from a variety of genres but romantic ballads emerged as her most popular works. despite a rather short career she is credited with producing hundreds of songs and even starring in a few movies. details of her life are relatively scarce and her fate during democratic kampuchea remains a mystery. the late king norodom sihanouk called ros serey sothea "the golden voice of the royal capital." ==biography== ===early life=== ros sothea was born in 1948 to ros sabun and nath samean in battambang province. growing up relatively poor, ros sothea was the second youngest of five children, who included older sister, activist ros saboeut. she displayed vocal talent as a toddler and grew up listening to early cambodian singers such as mao sareth and chunn malai which doubtlessly had a profound influence. sothea's talent would remain relatively hidden until friends persuaded her to join a regional singing contest in 1963. after winning the contest she gained the attention and praise of the province and was invited to join lomhea yothea (a musical troupe) which regularly performed at stung khiev restaurant in battambang. it is believed that im song seurm, a singer from the national radio heard of sothea's talents and invited her to the capital, phnom penh in 1967. ===music career=== in phnom penh, she adopted the alias ros sereysothea and became a singer for the national radio performing duets with [[im song 
1948_births 1977_deaths Cambodian_female_singers Khmer_female_singers Murdered_entertainers People_executed_by_the_Khmer_Rouge People_who_died_in_the_Cambodian_Genocide