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The Mavericks has lost its lead singer.
Raul Malo—who co-founded the band with Paul Deakin, Robert Reynolds and Ben Peeler in 1989—died on Dec. 8 following a battle with colon cancer, according to his family. He was 60.
“At 8:52 pm on December 8th, 2025, my love… our boys’ father… a devoted son and brother… and a friend to so many, gained his angel wings,” his wife Betty Malo shared to his Instagram account. “He was called to do another gig — this time in the sky — and he’s flying high like an eagle.”
Betty—with whom Raul shared sons Dino, Victor and Max—continued, “No one embodied life and love, joy and passion, family, friends, music, and adventure the way our beloved Raul did. Now he will look down on us with all that heaven will allow, lighting the way and reminding us to savor every moment.”
Raul was first diagnosed with colon cancer in June 2024. In September, the musician shared that he had developed Leptomeningeal disease, meaning the cancer had spread to the membranes surrounding his brain and spinal cord.
“It’s a very unpredictable and indiscriminatory disease,” he wrote on Facebook at the time. “But I want to let everybody know, I am in no way alone, or scared. I have an amazing wife and boys, wonderful family, team, road crew, band, friends and fans. I don’t even have enough words to describe the love and support that I’m getting right now.”
He added, “We don’t know what this will look like a couple months from now, but we are going into it like we have with everything else. Full steam ahead. Fight, recover, rest, repeat.”
Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for Stagecoach
In the wake of Raul’s passing, his bandmates—fellow original Paul as well as later additions Eddie Perez and Jerry Dale McFadden—praised him as a “force of human nature.”
“Over a career of more than three decades entertaining millions around the globe, his towering creative contributions and unrivaled, generational talent created the kind of multicultural American music reaching far beyond America itself,” they shared in a Dec. 9 statement on Instagram. “Though his earthly body may have passed, Raul’s spirit will live on forever in heaven, and here on earth through the music, joy, and light he brought forth.”
The band added of Raul, “His contributions to American and Latin music will be everlasting, as his songs and voice touched fans and fellow artists around the world.”
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