it wasn't until the 1960s, that the genre was defined, and grew in popularity, with the emergence of artists such as edu lobo, elis regina, and chico buarque - some consider 1966 as the year that the genre was born, as it was believed to be the second generation of the bossa nova style. 

the genre grew steadily, experiencing a whole new range of styles in the 1970s, as creativity reigned throughout brazil, and especially in rio - the exciting new genre moved from strength to strength as the century progressed, with the 1990s providing yet more fertile ground for the development of mpb.