In 1971, he moved to São Paulo, adopting the artistic name Ney Matogrosso, and joined the glam rock group Secos & Molhados, which in less than 18 months became a phenomenon, selling 1 million records.
The earliest rock groups to don makeup similar to corpse paint included Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Arthur Brown in the 1960s, Secos & Molhados, Alice Cooper and Kiss in the 1970s and, later that decade, punk rockers like The Misfits and singer David Vanian of The Damned.