With his potent and flexible baritone tone, Maia was able to convey not only a happy and energetic dance feel, but was capable of inspiring sentiment in otherwise corny songs as well, like his hit "Me Dê Motivo" (Paulo Massadas/Michael Sullivan). Throughout his career, this flexibility was evidenced through the multitude of styles embraced by him: soul, funk, bossa nova (in the '90s), romantic songs, American pop, samba, baião, and MPB. In the '90s, he was discovered by younger pop stars who re-recorded several of his hits. This was the case of Skank, Lulu Santos, Araketu, Paralamas do Sucesso, and Marisa Monte, not to mention Elis Regina, Gal Costa and other established artists who have recorded his songs.

In the '70s, Maia started to record albums and do shows promoting his indigenous synthesis of American soul and Brazilian music with elements of samba and baião. The movement gradually took the working-class suburbs of the north side of Rio de Janeiro, exploding in 1976 with the black movement.