Emilio

Biography

b Emilio Navaira, 23 August 1962, San Antonio, Texas, USA. Having established his name as a Tejano performer, Navaira dropped his surname in the mid-90s in an attempt to concentrate on a career in country music. His existing wide commercial exposure - he had been featured in advertisements for Coca-Cola, Wrangler and Stetson hats - lent itself naturally to the transition. As he told Billboard magazine in 1995, ‘Country and Tejano are the same style, if you think about it. A good Tejano polka has a country music beat in it, so it’s pretty much the same, and Latin music is involved with the girl leaving the guy, just like country.’ His Capitol Records debut, Life Is Good, was his first record to feature English-language lyrics, written for him by a team of Nashville writers, whereas his Latin material is largely the province of his brother Raul. The album also included two Spanish-language ‘bonus tracks’ - a version of Van Morrison’s...

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