Amália Rodrigues

Amália da Piedade Rebordão Rodrigues, (July 23, 1920 - October 6, 1999) was a Portuguese singer and actress. Born in Lisbon, official documents give her date of birth as July 23, but Rodrigues always said her birthday was July 1, 1920. She was born in the rua Martim Vaz (Martim Vaz Street), freguesia of Pena, Lisbon. Her father was a trumpet player and cobbler from Fundão who returned there when Amália was just over a year old, leaving her to live in Lisbon with her maternal grandmother in a deeply Catholic environment until she was 14, when her parents returned to the capital and she moved back in with them.

She was known as the "Rainha do Fado" ("Queen of Fado") and was most influential in popularizing the fado worldwide. She was the most important figure in the genre’s development, and enjoyed a 40-year recording and stage career. Rodrigues' performances and choice of repertoire pushed fado’s boundaries and helped redefine it and reconfigure it for her and subsequent generations. In effect, Rodrigues wrote the rulebook on what fado could be and on how a female singer—or fadista—should perform it, to the extent that she remains an unsurpassable model and an unending source of repertoire for all those who came afterwards. Rodrigues enjoyed an extensive international career between the 1950s and the 1970s, although in an era where such efforts were not as easily quantified as today. Other well-known international fado artists such as Madredeus, Dulce Pontes and Mariza have come close, however.