 He first left Lisbon in his youth, to study hotel management in Switzerland but, with the death of his father Alfredo de Almeida in 1962, do Carmo soon joined his mother to help her run their fado house, the Faia.In 1964 he married Maria Judite de Sousa Leal.Encouraged by his friends' response to his singing, do Carmo soon began to perform at the fado house.