Opera Singer. A soprano who performed leading roles in Europe and North America, she is remembered for her lead role performances in Jules Massenet's "Manion," and Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida" and "La traviata." She was born Emile Gabrielle Adele Ambroise to a wealthy French family in French Algeria. At age 16, her father died and she left for France to study voice at the Marseilles Conservatory, making her debut there. She then studied under operatic singer Gustave-Hippolyte Roger in Paris, France and soon began performing there as well as other European cities. While performing in the Netherlands, she met Dutch King William III and became his mistress. After his estranged wife, Queen Sophie, died in June 1877, he had her move into the Queen's chambers. The relationship dissolved the following year and she returned to France to sing, including the first performance of "Aida" at the Paris Opera. In 1879 she joined James Henry Mapleson's American tour that ran until March 1880, appearing in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Cleveland, reprising her roles in "Aida" and "La traviata" and performing the title role in "Carmen" and as 'Valentine' in "Les Huguenots." Prior to the tour's commencement, she met Gaston de Beauplan, who was active in the French theater scene, and they became lovers. Following the end of Mapleson's American tour, de Beauplan decided to form his own French opera touring group with Ambre as the main attraction and in October 1880 they began another American tour but it became a financial disaster with debts that exceeded the box office receipts. She sold some of her jewelry to pay off some of the debts and returned to France without de Beauplan. By October 1881 he had also returned to France and they were reunited, but they continued to struggle financially. She attempted to revive her operatic career in France but with limited success. Following de Beauplan's death in February 1890, she retired from the stage and opened a singing school in Paris with Emile Bouichere, who was 12 years her junior. They married in 1894; however, he died the following year and she continued to run her singing school. She died from an overdose of morphine at the age of 48 or 49. She was to be interred in Bouichere's tomb at the Pere Lachaise Cemetery but when her funeral carriage arrived, her coffin was not allowed in due to non-payment of the requisite fee of 200 francs. Her mourners were able to scrape together the 200 francs but further checking by the cemetery office revealed that another 100 francs was still due. Her mourners were unable to come up with the extra charge and she was interred temporarily in a common grave. In 1879, the French artist Edouard Manet painted a portrait of her as 'Carmen' which has been shown in several international exhibitions after it was donated to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1964.