Having his name strongly connected to the history of Brazilian Carnival, Jorge Goulart had a highly successful career with many hits. He also participated in several films, of which the most important is Rio 40 Graus (Nelson Pereira dos Santos) -- in the film, he sang "A Voz do Morro," a 1955 classic by Zé Kéti. Among many other historical pieces, he launched the timeless number (played innumerable times in every Carnival ball) "Cabeleira do Zezé" (João Roberto Kelly/Roberto Faissal) in 1964. Other Carnival smashes were "Mundo de Zinco" (Wilson Batista/Nássara, 1952), "Joga a Chave, Meu Amor" (J.R. Kelly/J. Rui), "Mané Fogueteiro" (João de Barro), and "Couro de Gato" (Grande Otelo/Rubens Silva/Popó). Goulart also is important as a singer who made composers of the samba schools like Elton Medeiros ("Exaltação a São Paulo"), Zé Kéti (the fundamental "A Voz do Morro," 1955), Candeia, and Silas de Oliveira known for a wider audience. Goulart debuted in his professional career interpreting songs by Custódio Mesquita, to whom he had been introduced by his father. Performing regularly at the Eldorado dancing, he soon began to work also at the Rádio Tupi. His first 78 rpm was released in 1945 due to Mesquita's influence as a director at Victor. After being dismissed from the recording company because of three albums that didn't happen, he became friends with Ary Barroso, who gave him his "Xangô" (with Fernando Lobo), his first hit. In the next year, Goulart opened in the successful show Um Milhão de Mulheres that was performed for two years. After a stint in Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul), Goulart returned to Rio in 1949, recording "Miss Mangueira" (Wilson Batista/Antônio Almeida) for next year's Carnaval. His success with "Balzaqueana" (Wilson Batista/Nássara, 1951) yielded an invitation to join the prestigious Rádio Nacional, where he stayed for 15 years. Goulart was the first singer to interpret, in the nights of Rio, "Vingança," the big hit by Lupicínio Rodrigues that definitively established the composer, also provoking suicides. But as he was a Continental artist while Rodrigues had a contract of exclusiveness with RCA, the song was finally offered to Herivelto Martins. Among the many hits recorded by Goulart in the '50s, one of the most curious works was the samba "Exaltação a São Paulo" (Elton Medeiros), which had been presented in the Carnival of 1954. Evidencing new paths for Brazilian music, the samba was recorded for the program Um Milhão de Melodas by Goulart with the accompaniment of the orchestra of the Rádio Nacional (60 figures) and ten match boxes (an "instrument" typical of the informal samba meetings at bars and homes), everything written by Radamés Gnattali. Still in the '50s, Goulart toured the former U.S.S.R., China, and several European countries. He also launched the bossa nova march "Marcha da Quarta-Feira de Cinzas" (Carlos Lyra/Vinícius de Moraes) in February 1963. ~ Alvaro Neder