Born in
Orós, a small city in the Brazilian state of
Ceará, he moved with his family to neighboring city of
Iguatu when only 3 months old. At the age of 11, he moved to his birth state capital city of
Fortaleza where he started his precocious musical career. There in the
1950s he created and joined a band called
Trio Nagô with his fellow musicians and friends Mário Alves and Epaminondas de Souza, releasing six studio albums and various extended plays. Eventually, Gouveia went to
Rio de Janeiro in order to pursue a solo career, and achieved stardom due to his friendship with fellow singer
Altemar Dutra, who helped Gouveia by singing his songs and making them popular. As a solo act, Gouveia released seven studio albums and various extended plays, most of them featuring fellow singers
Adelino Moreira and
Jair Amorim, even though they never formed a band. ==Illness and death==