Amália Rodrigues

Amália Rodrigues (July 1920 – October 6 1999) was a Portuguese singer and actress. Born in Lisbon, official documents have her date of birth as July 23, but Amália always said her birthday was July 1 1920. She was born

Amália Rodrigues (July 1920 – October 6 1999) was a Portuguese singer and actress. Born in Lisbon, official documents have her date of birth as July 23, but Amália always said her birthday was July 1 1920. She was born on Rua Martim Vaz (Martim Vaz Street), in Lisbon's Pena Freguesia.

She was known as the "Queen of Fado" and was most influential in introducing fado to the world outside of Portugal. She was unquestionably the most important figure in the genre’s development, by virtue of an innate interpretive talent carefully nurtured throughout a 40-year recording and stage career. Amália’s performances and choice of repertoire pushed Fado’s boundaries and helped redefine it and reconfigure it for her and subsequent generations. In effect, Amália 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. Amália also remains the sole truly international star to have ever come out of Portugal, with 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 artists such as Madredeus, Dulce Pontes or Mariza have come close, however.