Amalia Rodríguez

Amália da Piedade Rebordão Rodrigues GCSE, GCIH (23 July 1920 – 6 October 1999), better known as Amália Rodrigues or popularly as Amália, was a Portuguese fadista (fado singer).

She was known as the 'Rainha do Fado' ("Queen of Fado") and was instrumental in popularising fado worldwide and travelled internationally throughout her career.

Amália remains the best-selling Portuguese artist in history.

She advocated the restoration of the monarchy in Portugal.

She was a devout Catholic, which was reflected in her music.

Even though official documents give her date of birth as 23 July, Amália herself maintained that her birthday was actually 1 July 1920.

The baptism certificate of Rodrigues is in the Parish Church of Fundão, and the document was published in the Journal of Fundão after the singer's death, following its discovery in an investigation by Salvado J. Travassos.

She was born in Pena, a parish of Lisbon, Portugal.

Her father was Albertino de Jesus Rodrigues, originally from the Castelo Branco district in Central Portugal, and her mother was Lucinda da Piedade Rebordão, of Fundão parish, also in the Castelo Branco district.

Her maternal family had roots in Souto da Casa, a parish in Fundão, where Rodrigues's grandfather worked as a blacksmith.

According to the testimony of José Filipe Duarte Gonçalves, her sister, Celeste, was born in Lisbon (in addition to another child who died).

Rodrigues grew up in poverty and doing odd jobs such as selling fruit on Lisbon's quays.

Rodrigues started singing around 1935.

Her first professional engagement in a fado venue took place in 1939, and she was a guest in stage revues.

Around that time she met Frederico Valério, a classically trained composer who recognised Amália's potential and composed numerous melodies especially designed for her- adding orchestral accompaniments.

Such as 'Fado do Ciúme', 'Ai Mouraria', 'Que Deus Me Perdoe', and 'Não Sei Porque Te Foste Embora.'

By the early 1940s, Amália had become a famous singer in Portugal.

Amalia Rodrigues travelled abroad for the first time in 1943, to perform at the Portuguese ambassador in Madrid Pedro Teotónio Pereira's gala party.

She was accompanied by singer Júlio Proença and musicians Armandinho and Santos Moreira.

She gained popularity in Spain and Brazil (where, in 1945, she made her first recordings on Brazilian label Continental) where she spent some time and Paris (1949) where she resided.

She performed in Brazil in 1945 where she made her first recordings, in Berlin in 1950 and also performed in Mexico and France.

Rodrigues began acting with a debut film in 1946 titled 'Capas Negras' followed by her best known movie, 'Fado' (1947).

In 1950, while performing at the Marshall Plan international benefit shows, she introduced the song 'April in Portugal' to international audiences, under its original title "Coimbra".

In the early 1950s, the involvement of Portuguese poet David Mourão-Ferreira marked a new phase in her career where leading poets were writing specifically for her.

In France during the 1950s–1960s she performed on television and became a well-known artist.

She was the first Portuguese artist to appear on American TV on ABC in 1953.

She sang at Hollywood's Mocambo club in 1954.

Rodrigues appeared in Henri Verneuil's film The Lovers of Lisbon (Les Amants du Tage), in a supporting role.

In France she was almost as popular as in Portugal, and she performed at the prestigious Parisian Olympia hall.

Charles Aznavour wrote a fado in French especially for her 'Aie Mourir Pour Toi' and she created French versions of her own songs (e.g. Coimbra became Avril au Portugal. She performed at Olympia for 10 seasons between 1956 and 1992.

She then said she would sing only once in a while.

This led to the release of the album Portugal's Great Amália Rodrigues Live at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, in 1957.

She returned in 1962 concentrating on recording and performing live at a slower pace.

Her comeback album, 1962's Amália Rodrigues, was with French composer Alain Oulman (1929–1990), who was to become her main songwriter and musical producer.

He wrote melodies for creating a Fado sub-genre known as 'Busto' (Bust).

Rodrigues also began to sing her own poems ('Estranha Forma de Vida') on Amália Rodrigues, as well as poems written by other poets, such as Pedro Homem de Mello and David Mourão-Ferreira.

This album also established her signature songs like 'Povo Que Lavas no Rio', 'Maria Lisboa' and 'Abandono'.

Oulman, a left-wing intellectual, was arrested by Portugal's political police (known as PIDE) in 1966, and forced into exile, but he continued contributing for Amália.

She resumed her stage-career singing in Israel, the UK, France, and returning to the US for Promenade Concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, and New York City, accompanied by Andre Kostelanetz, in 1966 and 1968.

She also sang in the ex-USSR and Romania.