Amalia Rodrigues
Amália Rodrigues (1920–1999), popularized fado to its greatest extent, such that fado audiences cut across social classes and international borders. Supported by classically trained composer Frederico Valério (n.d.), Rodrigues’s performances redefined the genre, adding an expanded orchestral accompaniment to highlight her vocal talents. Her local success in Lisbon broadened during the 1940s and ’50s through recordings and various acting roles in Portuguese and international films, in which she frequently delivered onscreen performances. Christened the “Rainha do Fado” (Queen of Fado), Rodrigues enjoyed a career that spanned more than fifty years and remains the watermark to which current fado artists are compared.