Raul Malo, Golden-Voiced ‘Maestro’ of the Mavericks, Dead at 60

Raul Malo, the operatic vocalist and co-founder of the Grammy-winning, Latin-tinged country band the Mavericks, died Monday. He was 60. A rep for the Mavericks confirmed his death to Rolling Stone, adding that the cause of death was cancer.

“It’s with the deepest grief we share the passing of our friend, bandmate and brother Raul Malo,” the band said in a statement. “Anyone with the pleasure of being in Raul’s orbit knew that he was a force of human nature, with an infectious energy. 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.”

“No one embodied life and love, joy and passion, family, friends, music, and adventure the way our beloved Raul did,” Malo’s wife, Betty, added. “Now he will look down on us with all that heaven will allow, lighting the way and reminding us to savor every moment.”

Malo was diagnosed with colon cancer in June 2024. In September 2025, the singer announced that he was fighting LMD, or leptomeningeal disease, a cancer that affects the brain and spinal cord.

Gifted with one of music’s most robust and dynamic voices, Malo was known as “El Maestro” among his bandmates and fans. His singing style, powerful and emotive, had the ability to both stun an audience into silence and spur them to their feet. And with world-class musicians behind him, including Malo’s co-founders in the group, bassist Robert Reynolds and drummer Paul Deakin, the Mavericks earned a reputation as the most eclectic and entertaining of performers. They could be a country band, a rock group, or a dance unit, depending on their tastes.

“If you ask 10 different people what the Mavericks mean to them, you’re going to get 10 different answers,” Malo told Rolling Stone in 2015. “And then you’re going to hear our records and hear one song, and you’re going to think this band is like this. Then you’re going to hear the next song, and go, ‘Holy shit, this band is nothing like that song that I just heard.’”

Born Aug. 7, 1965, in Miami, Malo was the son of Cuban parents who fled their native country for the United States. “They came here to pursue the American dream — the promise that here in this country, you won’t be persecuted for your religious beliefs, skin color, or ethnicity,” Malo told Rolling Stone in 2017. In 1989, Malo, Reynolds, and Deakin founded the Mavericks, a group born out of the myriad musical influences of its members and the multicultural vibes of Miami. The band mixed rock, country, and the Latin rhythms of South Florida to create an irresistibly upbeat soundtrack, even if Malo often wrote and sang about heartbreak.

 

The Mavericks released their self-titled debut album in 1990, followed by 1992’s From Hell to Paradise. But it was 1994’s What a Crying Shame that earned them the most acclaim to date due to the title track and singles “There Goes My Heart” and “O What a Thrill.” Malo and the group built on that success with 1995’s Music for All Occasions, which afforded them their biggest U.S. country hit. “All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down,” written by Malo and Al Anderson and featuring Tex-Mex accordion king Flaco Jiménez, hit Number 13 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and gave the Mavericks’ their signature live song. (Rolling Stone ranked it Number 159 in its list of the 200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time.)

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