Heifer da Silva was born in the city of Recife(PE) and went to Rio de Janeiro at 15, hidden in a ship, and there he started to work in civil construction. He was a percussionist since his childhood and soon he entered into a carnavalesco block, where one of the components took him to the Radio Club of Brazil, in 1950. From there, he started to act as composer, instrumentalist and singer, recording his first compact in 1969 and the first LP six years later.
He was considered the "ambassador" of the Favelas ( Brazilian Shanty Towns ). He was the singer of the Malandragem.

Bezerra was knowledgeable about life in the favelas, and the songs he sang are filled with slang terms having to do with drug dealing, the law, etc., and are often humorous. Later in life, not long before his passing, Bezerra gave up this life and became an evangelical Christian. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.