The unrivaled queen of the Portuguese fado, singer Amália Rodrigues was born in Lisbon in 1920. As a teen Rodrigues performed as a tango dancer, and at 19 she made her professional singing debut. Within a year she was a star, selling out clubs every night. Rodrigues not only popularized the fado throughout South America, she reinvented it -- brilliantly fusing the urban and rural styles of Lisbon and Coimbra, she also sought out material that moved far beyond the traditional tales of failed romance to explore instead the deepest crises of the soul and spirit, delivering performances unmatched in their fatalistic power and haunting beauty. ~ Retiro da Severa