Beloved country music singer Raul Malo has died after a long battle against stage 4 cancer and leptomenigeal disease.
His group, The Mavericks, shared the news Tuesday on Instagram.
“It’s with the deepest grief we share the passing of our friend, bandmate and brother Raul Malo on December 8th, 2025 at the age of 60,” the statement read. “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.”
“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 statement added. “His contributions to American and Latin music will be everlasting, as his songs and voice touched fans and fellow artists around the world.”
Malo announced last year that he had stage 4 colon cancer, and he shared his battle against the disease openly with fans. And, at times this year, it was a disease he appeared poised to put behind him, but in September he made the heartbreaking announcement that he had been diagnosed with leptomeningeal disease.
“Dear Friends, I want to update you all on my health, as things have taken a turn,” he wrote on Facebook. “As it goes with cancer, it’s a very unpredictable and indiscriminatory disease. I’ve developed something called LMD, which stands for ‘get this (expletive) out of my head.’ Treatment for this is radiation, which I will start tomorrow. We will probably jump into some chemo and are even looking at alternative therapies. But it’s time to take to heart your words of resting & recovering, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
According to the Cleveland Clinic, leptomeningeal disease is cancer in the cerebrospinal fluid and leptomeninges, which are membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. There is no cure for the disease. Instead, doctors focus on trying to slow the disease from spreading while maintaining the patient’s quality of life.
Despite the ominous diagnosis, Malo continued to fight, and in November he headed to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Texas for treatment. But last Thursday his wife, Betty Malo, announced that he had to be rushed to the hospital. He sadly was never able to recover.
The singer is survived by Betty, sons Dino, Victor and Max, his mother, Norma and sister Carol.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.pennlive.com ’
