Born in San Antonio, Texas. Emilio started singing at home with his father, the late Emilio Navaira Jr., his mother, Mary Navaira, a retired bi-lingual teacher's assistant and his two siblings, Yvette and Raul.Emilio's first guitarwas from a pawnshop that his father bought him. Self-taught, Emilio began to accompanying his family at birthday parties and holiday gatherings. They would sing songs from Willie Nelson, Little Joe Hernandez, Ramon Ayala and George Strait just to name a few. These are memories that Emilio will never forget.
Music has always been in his life, graduating from McCollum high school in 1980, Emilio received a music scholarship to Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. There he majored in music, thinking that someday he would become a music teacher. While going to college, Emilio played "Fredrick" in the musical "The Sound of Music" with actors Earl Holloman and Dorothy Lamour at the Fiesta Dinner Theater in San Antonio, Texas. After that he started singing lead vocals with Tejano artist David Lee Garza y Los Musicales. In 1989, Emilio formed his own band Emilio y Grupo Rio along with his brother, Raulito.