Amália Rodrigues (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 unarguably 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.

After a few years of amateur performances, Amália’s first professional engagement in a fado venue takes place in 1939, quickly becoming a regular guest star in stage revues. There she meets Frederico Valério, a classically-trained composer who, recognising the potential in such a voice, writes expansive melodies custom-designed for Amália’s voice, breaking the rules of Fado by adding orchestral accompaniment.

Her Portuguese popularity begins to extend abroad with trips to Spain and a lengthy stay in Brazil where she makes, in 1945, her first recordings on Brazilian label Continental. Paris follows, in 1949. In 1950, while performing at the Marshall Plan international benefit shows, she introduces "April in Portugal" to international audiences (under its original title "Coimbra").

In the early fifties, the patronage of acclaimed Portuguese poet David Mourão-Ferreira will mark the beginning of a new phase: Amália will sing many of the country's greatest poets, and some will write lyrics specifically for her.

In 1954 her international career skyrockets through her presence in Henri Verneuil’s film "The Lovers of Lisbon", where she has a supporting role and performs on-screen. By the late fifties the USA, England and France have become her major international markets (Japan and Italy will follow suit in the 1970s); in France especially her popularity rivals her Portuguese success, graduating to headliner at the prestigious Olympia theatre within a matter of months. Over the years she will perform nearly all over the world — going so far as Russia and Israel.

At the end of the fifties Amália takes a year off. She will return in 1962 with a richer voice, concentrating on recording and performing live at a slower pace. Her comeback album, 1962' "Amália Rodrigues", is her first collaboration with French composer Alain Oulman, her main songwriter and musical producer throughout the decade. As Frederico Valério before him, Oulman writes for her melodies that transcend the conventions of Fado.

Not that Amália shies away from controversy: her performance in Carlos Vilardebó’s 1964 arthouse film "The Enchanted Islands" is better received than the film, based on a short story by Herman Melville, and her 1965 recording of poems by 16th century poet Luis de Camoens generates acres of newspaper polemics. Yet her popularity remains untouched. Her 1968 single "Vou Dar de Beber à Dor" breaks all sales records and her 1970 album "Com que Voz", considered by many her definitive recording, wins a number of international awards.

During the 1970s Amália concentrates on live work and embarks upon a heavy schedule of worldwide concert performances. Her return to the recording studio in 1977 with "Cantigas numa Língua Antiga" is received as a triumph. The 1980s and 1990s will bring her enthronement as a living legend. Her last all-new studio recording, "Lágrima", is released in 1983, followed by a series of lost or unreleased recordings and the smash success of two greatest hits records that sell over 200,000 albums combined.

Despite a series of illnesses in her voice, Amália will continue recording as late as 1990. But eventually she retreats from public performance, while her career gains in stature with an official biography by historian and journalist Vítor Pavão dos Santos and a five-hour TV series documenting her fifty-year career featuring rare archive footage (later distilled into the 90-minute film documentary "The Art of Amália"). Its director, Bruno de Almeida has also directed "Amália, Live in New York City" (a concert film of her 1990 performance at New York's Town Hall).

On October 6, 1999, Amália Rodrigues died at the age of 79 in her home in Lisbon. Her house (in Rua de São Bento) is now a museum.de:Amália Rodrigues es:Amália Rodrigues fr:Amália Rodrigues it:Amália Rodrigues nl:Amália Rodrigues pt:Amália Rodrigues