Lata (born February 19, 1975 in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

) is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He is a well-known Red Dirt artist in Oklahoma and a reference of Americana music in Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium and the north of France.

Life and career

He grew up in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, where his father worked for the European Court of Justice. At the age of 17 he went to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, played music in bars, and was a member of various bands. From 1993 to 1999 he studied economics, at UCL

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

and politics at London Guildhall University at bachelor and master level

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public university, public research university in London, England. The University of North London (formerly the Polytechnic of North London) and London Guildhall University (f ...

. In 2001, he founded the company Desert Fish Productions and became the Portugal musical events manager for the animal rights organization LPDA, . From 2002 to 2006, he had a band called Lata Dog, releasing an album in 2004. In 2003 he wrote the song "Três desafios" for the soundtrack of the film "Tudo isto é Fado", directed by

Luís Galvão Teles Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

. In 2007, he moved to

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

at the invitation of

Rocky Frisco Don Roscoe Joseph III (July 26, 1937 – May 26, 2015), professionally known as Rocky Frisco and Rocky Curtiss, was an American musician. He was best known as the longtime pianist for J. J. Cale, and for his role in the development of the music ...

, who had played together with

JJ Cale John Weldon "J. J." Cale (December 5, 1938 – July 26, 2013) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and sound engineer. Though he avoided the limelight, his influence as a musical artist has been acknowledged by figures such as Mark Knop ...

, one of Gouveia's musical heroes. There he came into contact with many folk musicians and created close friendships with

Tom Skinner Sir Thomas Edward Skinner (18 April 1909 – 11 November 1991) was a New Zealand politician and Trades Union leader. Sir Tom served as President of the Auckland Trades Council from 1954 to 1976, and President of the New Zealand Federation of ...

, Dustin Pittsley and Steve Pryor. In 2009 Lata produced the documentary "Red Dirt: Songs from the Dust", which was awarded best music documentary at the

Bare Bones International Film Festival The Bare Bones International Film and Music Festival was founded in 1999 by the Darkwood Film Arts Institute (DFAI) in the city of Muskogee, Oklahoma, United States to showcase independent motion picture projects with budgets of less than 1 milli ...

. His 2008 album Road US-75 was released by Captiva Records, in San Marcos, Texas. His 2011 cover version of Monica Taylor's song "Young Mother" was featured on the

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

website. Since 2010 he is living in Luxembourg again and has become one brightest stars in the national scene, headlining several festivals and opening for Ayọ, Charlie Winston,

Kiefer Sutherland Kiefer William Sutherland (born 21 December 1966) is a British-Canadian actor and musician. He is best known for his starring role as Jack Bauer in the Fox drama series '' 24'' (2001–2010, 2014), for which he won an Emmy Award, a Golden Glo ...

Alan Parsons Alan Parsons (born 20 December 1948) is an English audio engineer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Parsons was involved with the production of several notable albums, including the Beatles' ''Abbey Road'' (1969) and ''Let It Be'' ( ...

BAP BAP or bap may refer to: Food * Bap (bread), a type of bread roll * Bap (rice dish), a Korean food Music * BAP (Basque band), a hardcore punk group (formed 1984) * BAP (German band), a Colognian rock group (formed 1976) * B.A.P (South Korean ban ...

, Sting and others. He composed the music for the documentary "Terra mia terra nostra" (2012), directed by

Donato Rotunno Donato may refer to: People *Donato (surname) As a given name * Donato Bilancia (1951–2020), Italian serial killer * Donato Bramante (1444–1514), Italian architect * Donato da Cascia (fl. c. 1350 – 1370), Italian composer of trecento ma ...

. In 2013 he won the band contest Purple Idol and played at the

Rock um Knuedler Rock um Knuedler is a rock festival held every summer in the centre of Luxembourg City. Founded in 1991 when Luxembourg held the presidency of the European Union, it was originally designed for local groups but since 1995 it has also been a popular ...

festival as support for

. In 2014 Lata released the album “Radio Nights”, followed by “Healed & Gone” in 2019. His recent band consists of Daniela Kruger (bass), Paul Porcelli (guitar) and

Jeff Herr Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes * ...

(drums).

Discography

* Lead the way (with Lata Dog, 2004) * Dead time (2007) * Road US-75 (2008) * Radio Night (Single, 2013) * Chico (Single, 2014) * Radio Nights (2014) * Live at Kufa (2015) * Radio Cuts 2008-2015 (EP, 2015) * Healed & Gone (2018) * Stay the same (2022)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gouveia, Lata Portuguese guitarists Portuguese singer-songwriters Living people 1975 births Male guitarists Singers from Lisbon Portuguese male singer-songwriters 21st-century guitarists 21st-century Portuguese male singers Alumni of the University of London Alumni of London Metropolitan University