Born in New York City, Emily began to play the guitar at the age of ten and she continued to excel in her musical studies at the Berklee School of Music from 1976 to 1979. Emily Remler was a jazz guitarist who came on the scene in the 1980s. She worked in blues and jazz clubs in New Orleans before beginning her recording career in 1981 with support from guitar great Herb Ellis.

In addition to her recording career as a bandleader and composer, Emily played in blues groups, on Broadway and with artists as diverse as Larry Coryell, with whom she recorded an album titled Together, and the singer Rosemary Clooney. She played in the pit for the Los Angeles version of the show Sophisticated Ladies from 1981 to 1982, a three-month stint.

Remler was equally adept at playing with and without a pick in such diverse styles as bop, jazz-rock, and Latin music; her playing incorporated smooth and fluid eighth-note passages, doublings at the octave in the style of Wes Montgomery, and blues phrasing. She recorded seven albums of bop, jazz standards, and fusion guitar before dying of heart failure at the age of thirty-two while on tour in Australia. You can see Emily's amazing playing style in the Hot Licks instructional videos Advanced Jazz and Latin Improvisation with Emily Remler and Bebop and Swing Guitar with Emily Remler (1986).