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

[7] 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.

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

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

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.

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.

Rodrigues appeared in Carlos Vilardebó's 1964 arthouse film The Enchanted Islands based on a short story by Herman Melville.

Her 1968 single Vou dar de beber à dor broke all sales records and her 1970 album Com que voz won a number of international awards.

During the post-25 April 1974 period, she was falsely accused of being a covert agent of the PIDE;[12] this unjust charge triggered a severe bout of depression on her part.

Despite the government's heavy promotion of Rodrigues as a national symbol of Portugal, in private, Salazar hated Fado and Rodrigues (whom he referred to as "that creature"), considering its central concept of 'saudade' (nostalgia or a painful yearning for the past) as anti-modern and "has a softening influence on the Portuguese character", one that "sapped all energy from the soul and led to inertia".

Soon after that release, Rodrigues suffered her first really serious troubles in terms of physical health, which caused her to be away from the stage for a short period again, and forced her to concentrate on performing, especially in Portugal.

During these years she held concerts in France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Israel, and the USA, in addition to Portugal.

Its director, Bruno de Almeida, has also produced Amália, Live in New York City, a concert film of her 1990 performance at The Town Hall.

In 1998, Rodrigues was paid a national tribute at Lisbon's Universal Exhibition (Expo '98), and in February 1999 was considered one of Portugal's 25 most important personalities of the democratic period.

The Portuguese government, at the time led by Prime Minister António Guterres, promptly declared three days of national mourning.

She was given a state funeral, attended by tens of thousands, and later transferred to the National Pantheon in 2001; the first woman ever to be laid among the greatest Portuguese figures, an exceptional honour awarded by Parliament.

By the time of her death in 1999, Rodrigues had received more than 40 decorations and honors from France (including the Légion d'Honneur), Lebanon, Portugal, Spain, Israel and Japan.

She put Fado in the world map as a musical genre, and her works continue to inspire other performers and singers today, many of whom sing her repertoire.

Versions of her own songs, for instance "Coimbra" ("April in Portugal") achieved success in France, Italy, USA, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Romania, Japan and The Netherlands, among other countries.