Raul Malo
El Maestro
1965 – 2025

Raul Malo – founder, frontman, and towering singer of The Mavericks, who possessed a truly otherworldly voice – died last night at 60, roughly a year-and-a-half after announcing his cancer battle. The “Golden-voiced Maestro,” as Rolling Stone headlined their obit, could sing in a striking, operatic style perhaps most closely aligned with Roy Orbison, then shift to a robust tex-mex, country or rock & roll force. I could count on one hand the singers ever capable of reaching the dynamic heights he regularly could. As RS also put it, “His singing style, powerful and emotive, had the ability to both stun an audience into silence and spur them to their feet.”

The music world lost one of its greatest singers ever today. That’s simply not hyperbole. I loved The Mavericks like few other bands – their recordings were flawless, and the live shows were a non-stop dance party. Raul was The Mavericks. And this one is heartbreaking.

I probably saw Raul Malo and The Mavericks in concert close to a dozen times, every one more fun than the last. Still, sometimes it’s the ones you miss. One such lamentable occasion was a couple years back at the Outlaw Country Cruise – featuring a ridiculous roster of incredible artists on the high seas, all headlined by The Mavericks – and I found some reason not to make it happen. My friends Messiah & Chris made no such mistake, and when they ran into Raul at some point during the voyage they were kind enough to have him record the following little message for me (click below to open):

Greetings from Raul

I had a love/hate relationship with this 13-second video then, but I’ll treasure it more now.

RIP, Raul. An irreplaceable all-timer, a bear of a man with the voice of an angel, is now gone.

Oh, what a crying shame.