Born into a working-class family from western Greater Buenos Aires, he began his career in the early 1960s as the lead singer of the nueva ola group Los Dukes, which recorded two singles released on label Music Hall.

Tanguito is celebrated for co-writing Los Gatos' hit "La balsa", that catapulted the burgeoning rock nacional into massive popularity in the summer of 1967–68.

Tanguito later worked for Mandioca, Argentine rock's first independent record label founded by producers Jorge Álvarez and Pedro Pujó in 1968.

The album turned Tanguito into a cult figure among suburban rock fans and installed the persistent myth that he had been the original author of "La balsa" and Litto Nebbia had taken advantage of his fragile state of mind.

Many of them were struggling with writing rock lyrics in Spanish, and Tanguito was initially perceived as a novelty act, who could sing energetic Elvis Presley covers in broken English.

The musicians would end the night by walking up Pueyrredón avenue together to have late supper or breakfast in café La Perla del Once in the Balvanera district.

The success of "Los Gatos" and Tanguito's status as co-composer of "La Balsa" hinted that a career break was around the corner, yet his first single, recorded January 18, 1968, was not marketed effectively by RCA and sales floundered.

During 1968, several songs by Tanguito, notably Amor de Primavera ("Spring Love"), were being covered or borrowed by emerging artists in the Argentine rock and roll scene.

When Tanguito broke with RCA he found a new home in Mandioca, a label dedicated exclusively to rock, which immediately arranged for studio time.

Diagnosed as mentally insane, he was committed to the José T. Borda Neuropsychiatric Hospital, where he was submitted to insulin shock therapy and other treatments designed to wane him off the amphetamines.

His brief but brilliant trajectory is recalled by many elder statesmen of Argentine rock as a main force in the early days, and as a sad remainder of the damage that drugs can wreak.

Luis Alberto Spinetta covered Tanguito's Amor de Primavera and made that song a highlight of his concerts during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

He took artistic license in the plot of the movie, since the real-life Tanguito was not active politically and did not comment on the events that shook Argentina such as the 1969 Cordobazo, even though his "hippie" image might have influenced his ordeals with the police.