[1] 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.

[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] 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.

[1][2] 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.

[2] On 29 May 2020, Gouveia died in Fortaleza at the age 91 due to complications brought on by COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.