Amalia de Isaura

Biography

Spanish singer, actress, and comedienne, who reached her career zenith in the 1910s and 1920s but managed to remain active throughout the 1960s. Her parents were pianist Arturo de Isaura and soprano Carmen Pérez, both linked to the Zarzuela musical genre, consequently Amalia was raised in show business and started performing at an early age. As a young adult, she was already a featured player in various zarzuelas of the era such as "Las musas latinas" (1913) by Manuel Penella but she felt more at home performing solo. Working on stage she discovered that, apart from singing, her talent laid in comedy, parody and satire. She was a born mimic of extraordinary vitality who created her own ad-libs during songs, knowing instinctively how to bring the audience into a frenzy. Amalia also made hilarious parodies of celebrities from Francesca Bertini to Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson, offering the public a novelty act that was unique and hard to resist. Influenced by her art, composers began writing songs especially for her and she became a much in demand recording star. Her impact was felt on the other side of the Atlantic and she was invited to perform in Argentina, Cuba, and Mexico adding new international triumphs to her career. By the 1930s music had changed and so had the people's tastes. Most of the stars from the beginning of the 20th century had faded away but Amalia adapted her act to the times and joined the touring companies of emerging superstars Conchita Piquer and Miguel de Molina maintaining her name and reputation in the public eye. She also managed to reinvent herself, time and again, during the next two decades headlining her own music revues all over the Spanish geography. The 1960s started slow for Amalia but soon she was acting in films doing character roles that revealed a new aspect of her versatile personality. She worked until shortly before her passing in 1971 leaving behind the amazing legacy of her art and an enduring legend that refuses to die.