Amália da Piedade Rodrigues GCSE, GCIH (July 23, 1920 – October 6, 1999), known as Amália Rodrigues (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐˈmaliɐ ʁuˈðɾiɣɨʃ]), was a Portuguese singer and actress. Known as the Rainha do Fado ("Queen of Fado"), Rodrigues helped popularize fado worldwide and traveled internationally between the 1950s and 1970s. She also became one of the most important figures in the genre's development, becoming the pre-eminent female fadista during a 50-year recording and stage career. Amália was the main inspiration for other well-known international fado and popular music artists such as Madredeus, Dulce Pontes, and Mariza.
Amália Rodrigues remains today Portugal's most famous artist and singer, a woman who was born into an almost destitute family and who grew to become not only Portugal's major star but also an internationally acclaimed artist and singer, whose career spanned 55 years, recording songs in several languages (especially Portuguese, Spanish, French, English and Italian), versions of her own songs, most famously "Coimbra" ("April In Portugal") and performing all over the world, achieving tremendous success in countries like France, Italy, Argentina, Spain, the USA, Mexico, Brazil, Romania, Japan and The Netherlands, among many others.