The Most Famous

SINGERS from Portugal

This page contains a list of the greatest Portuguese Singers. The pantheon dataset contains 4,381 Singers, 27 of which were born in Portugal. This makes Portugal the birth place of the 29th most number of Singers behind Thailand, and Bulgaria.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Portuguese Singers of all time. This list of famous Portuguese Singers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Portuguese Singers.

1. Amália Rodrigues (1920 - 1999)

With an HPI of 67.87, Amália Rodrigues is the most famous Portuguese Singer. Her biography has been translated into 47 different languages on wikipedia.

Amália da Piedade Rebordão Rodrigues (23 July 1920 – 6 October 1999), known as simply Amália Rodrigues (European Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐˈmaliɐ ʁuˈðɾiɣɨʃ]) or popularly as Amália, was a Portuguese fado singer (fadista). Dubbed Rainha do Fado ("Queen of Fado"), she was instrumental in popularising fado worldwide and travelled internationally throughout her career. Rodrigues remains the best-selling Portuguese artist in history.

2. Carmen Miranda (1909 - 1955)

With an HPI of 64.42, Carmen Miranda is the 2nd most famous Portuguese Singer. Her biography has been translated into 53 different languages.

Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha (9 February 1909 – 5 August 1955), known professionally as Carmen Miranda (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈkaʁmẽj miˈɾɐ̃dɐ]), was a Portuguese-born Brazilian singer, dancer, and actress. Nicknamed "The Brazilian Bombshell", she was known for her signature fruit hat outfit that she wore in her American films. As a young woman, Miranda designed clothes and hats in a boutique before making her debut as a singer, recording with composer Josué de Barros in 1929. Miranda's 1930 recording of "Taí (Pra Você Gostar de Mim)", written by Joubert de Carvalho, catapulted her to stardom in Brazil as the foremost interpreter of samba. During the 1930s, Miranda performed on Brazilian radio and appeared in five Brazilian chanchadas, films celebrating Brazilian music, dance and the country's carnival culture. Hello, Hello Brazil! and Hello, Hello, Carnival! embodied the spirit of these early Miranda films. The 1939 musical Banana da Terra (directed by Ruy Costa) gave the world her "Baiana" image, inspired by Afro-Brazilians from the north-eastern state of Bahia. In 1939, Broadway producer Lee Shubert offered Miranda an eight-week contract to perform in The Streets of Paris after seeing her at Cassino da Urca in Rio de Janeiro. The following year she made her first Hollywood film, Down Argentine Way with Don Ameche and Betty Grable, and her exotic clothing and Lusophone accent became her trademark. That year, she was voted the third-most-popular personality in the United States; she and her group, Bando da Lua, were invited to sing and dance for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1943, Miranda starred in Busby Berkeley's The Gang's All Here, which featured musical numbers with the fruit hats that became her trademark. By 1945, she was the highest-paid woman in the United States. Miranda made 14 Hollywood films between 1940 and 1953. Although she was hailed as a talented performer, her popularity waned by the end of World War II. Miranda came to resent the stereotypical "Brazilian Bombshell" image she had cultivated and attempted to free herself of it with limited success. She focused on nightclub appearances and became a fixture on television variety shows. Despite being stereotyped, Miranda's performances popularized Brazilian music and increased public awareness of Latin culture. In 1941, she was the first Latin American star to be invited to leave her hand and footprints in the courtyard of Grauman's Chinese Theatre and was the first South American honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Miranda is considered the precursor of Brazil's 1960s Tropicalismo cultural movement. A museum was built in Rio de Janeiro in her honor and she was the subject of the documentary Carmen Miranda: Bananas Is My Business (1995).

3. Zeca Afonso (1929 - 1987)

With an HPI of 55.01, Zeca Afonso is the 3rd most famous Portuguese Singer. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

José Manuel Cerqueira Afonso dos Santos (2 August 1929 – 23 February 1987), known professionally as José Afonso and also popularly known as Zeca Afonso, was a Portuguese singer-songwriter. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of Portugal's folk and protest music scene. His music played a significant role in the resistance against the dictatorial Estado Novo regime, making him an icon in Portugal. Afonso's song "Grândola, Vila Morena" was used as a radio-broadcast signal by the Portuguese Armed Forces during their military coup operation in the morning of 25 April 1974, which led to the Carnation Revolution and the transition to democracy in Portugal. Subsequently, Afonso's music, along with "Grândola, Vila Morena," became emblematic of the revolution, anti-fascism, the Portuguese labor movement, and the political left.

4. Maria Severa Onofriana (1820 - 1846)

With an HPI of 53.51, Maria Severa Onofriana is the 4th most famous Portuguese Singer. Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Maria Severa Onofriana (26 July 1820 – 30 November 1846), also known simply as A Severa, was a Portuguese fado singer and guitarist. She is regarded, in her short life, as the first fado singer to have risen to fame, attaining a near-mythical status after her death. Fado has been described as the Portuguese expression of "the blues", and fado roughly means 'fate'.

5. Carlos do Carmo (1939 - 2021)

With an HPI of 52.59, Carlos do Carmo is the 5th most famous Portuguese Singer. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Carlos Manuel de Ascenção do Carmo de Almeida (21 December 1939 – 1 January 2021), better known as Carlos do Carmo, was a Portuguese fado singer. The son of Lucília do Carmo, a well-known fadista, do Carmo began his career in fado following his father's death in 1962, when he returned from a period in Switzerland to help his mother run the family's fado house. He began singing himself shortly afterwards and, in 1963, he began his career as a recording artist. He continued working at the fado house for a number of years, while also expanding his recording career. He achieved national and international success in the 1970s, including performances at the Royal Opera House in London and the Paris Olympia. He represented Portugal at the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with his song "Uma flor de verde pinho", finishing in 12th place. Carmo introduced new styles to fado, including the addition of orchestras, and the incorporation of other styles such as jazz into the traditional music.

6. Mísia (1955 - 2024)

With an HPI of 50.39, Mísia is the 6th most famous Portuguese Singer. Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Susana Maria Alfonso de Aguiar (18 June 1955 – 27 July 2024), known mononymously as Mísia, was a Portuguese fado singer. She was a polyglot, singing some of her songs in Spanish, French, Catalan, English, and Japanese.

7. Dulce Pontes (b. 1969)

With an HPI of 48.42, Dulce Pontes is the 7th most famous Portuguese Singer. Her biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Dulce José Silva Pontes (Portuguese: [ˈdulsɨ ʒuˈzɛ ˈsilvɐ ˈpõtɨʃ]; born 8 April 1969) is a Portuguese songwriter and singer who performs in many musical styles, including pop, folk, and classical music. She is usually defined as a world music artist. Her songs contributed to the 1990s revival of Portuguese urban folk music called fado.

8. Lio (b. 1962)

With an HPI of 48.24, Lio is the 8th most famous Portuguese Singer. Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Vanda Maria Ribeiro Furtado Tavares de Vasconcelos (born 17 June 1962), known professionally as Lio, is a Portuguese-Belgian singer and actress who was a pop icon in France and Belgium during the 1980s.

9. Salvador Sobral (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 48.17, Salvador Sobral is the 9th most famous Portuguese Singer. His biography has been translated into 59 different languages.

Salvador Vilar Braamcamp Sobral (Portuguese pronunciation: [salvɐˈðoɾ viˈlaɾ βɾɐ̃ˈkɐ̃p suˈβɾal]; born 28 December 1989) is a Portuguese singer, who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 for Portugal with the song "Amar pelos dois", written and composed by his sister, Luísa Sobral. In doing so, he gave Portugal its first ever win in the contest since its debut in 1964, ending the longest winless run by a country in Eurovision history (53 years). Sobral and his entry hold the Eurovision record for the highest-scoring winner, having earned a total of 758 points under the current voting system, after winning both the jury vote and televote.

10. Simone de Oliveira (b. 1938)

With an HPI of 48.09, Simone de Oliveira is the 10th most famous Portuguese Singer. Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Simone de Macedo e Oliveira, GCIH • GMC (born 11 February 1938) better known as Simone de Oliveira is a Portuguese singer and actress. She performed the Portuguese entries at the 1965 and 1969 editions of the Eurovision Song Contest.

People

Pantheon has 32 people classified as Portuguese singers born between 1820 and 1994. Of these 32, 25 (78.13%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Portuguese singers include Dulce Pontes, Lio, and Salvador Sobral. The most famous deceased Portuguese singers include Amália Rodrigues, Carmen Miranda, and Zeca Afonso. As of April 2024, 5 new Portuguese singers have been added to Pantheon including Maria Severa Onofriana, Tonicha, and Maro.