Emilio Navaira

Emilio Navaira III (born August 23, 1962) is an American Grammy award-winning musician of Mexican heritage, who performs both country music and Tejano music. Known primarily by the singular name Emilio, he has also charted more than ten singles on the Billboard Hot Latin Tracks charts, in addition to six singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & tracks charts. Emilio is also one of the few Tejano artists to have significant success in both the United States and Mexico, and has been called the "Garth Brooks of Tejano." His biggest country his was the #27 "It's Not the End of the World" in late 1995, and his highest-charting single on any chart is "Por Siempre Unidos," which peaked at #7 on Latin Pop Airplay in 1996. In 1985 at age 23, Emilio began his performing career by singing lead vocals for David Lee Garza y Los Musicales. In 1987, Cuantas Ves by David Lee Garza y los Musicales beat out Alpha by Mexican American singer Selena for Album of the Year at the Tejano Music Awards. In 1989, Navaira formed his own band, Emilio y Grupo Rio. That same year Emilio Sighned with Columbia Records (then known as CBS Records). This relationship resulted in Emilio recording more than fifteen studio albums to, date, including several with his Rio Band. By the mid 1990s, Emilio began crediting himselef solely as Emilio, eventually switching his focus to country music. Between 1989 and 1996, Emilio had released seven Spanish albums with cumulative sales of about 2 million. This success lead to mainstream commercial exposure, with companies such as Coca-Cola and Wrangler Jeans using his songs in their advertisements in the 1990s. Emilio had also gained a sponsorship with Miller Lite beer, who had persuaded him to use their slogan at the time, "Life is good," as the title of his first country album.