Frontman for The Mavericks. One of my and my wife's favorite bands. Seen them a lot around the state. Pic from a New Year's Eve concert at Gruene Hall a couple of years ago.

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He was so damn talented.
One of those groups I always said "ah, I'll see them next time they come through town" and never got around to.

Damn. Vaya con Dios, Ral.

Glad I finally got to see them a few months back. One of my all time favorites. When I played in bands I did a couple of their songs, not approaching his level of singing of course. And finally, he and my older brother could have been separated at birth so he's always felt familiar to me. RIP.

Pretty sure he could have been a fine opera singer if he wanted to. Powerful, beautiful voice and just such a fun entertainer.

This clip is not typical of their shows as they are 99% high energy and just flat out fun, but this really highlights his vocal abilities and is a beautiful version of one of their hits.

He died just a couple of days after the two-night tribute to him at The Ryman. Sad.

Here's a nice obit from Saving Country Music:

https://savingcountrymusic.com/raul-malo-voice-of-a-generation-and-mavericks-frontman-has-died/

I've been listening to them all morning after I heard the news. Such a talented artist.

RIP. Oh what a crying shame

What a gut punch this morning to learn the news that Raul had passed. I attended the tribute show last Friday at the Ryman and several performers' comments implied that his condition was pretty dire (he had been rushed to the ER on Thursday night.) Still, folks were optimistic but unfortunately for all of us, cancer is rarely defeated.

RIP El Maestro, and thank you for everything you left behind for us.

Orbison and Yaokam is a good description, but with that Latin flair. The whole band seemed to truly love every second that they performed.

He was amazing. Guys like him don't come out of Nashville anymore. It's a crying shame that he and the Mavericks were never bigger than the my were.

My parents absolutely love these guys.. my mom has many pictures of her singing and dancing the night away next to Raul.. my parents have been on a lot of those music cruises that mavericks played on and they always had late night impromptu jams with the guests joining in.

Got a soft spot in my heart for them, especially those 90s tunes.

Get a kleenex..
https://www.instagram.com/officialbettymalo/reel/DR8EYXEEemT/?hl=en

i have a funny story about him. i was at gruene hall early on a friday afternoon in late august, probably about 1 in the afternoon with my brother. we were waiting for people to come into town and were there just drinking beers. a band started loading in and setting up for sound check this big lumbering dude came in and sat at the table next to us and he was dressed in a fur overcoat and dark glasses which was weird but it's all kind of people down there.

he said hi and we said hi but that was about it. then he walks up to the stage at sound check and starts belting out singing and immediately i said "holy **** that's Raul Malo.".

Amazing that one of the best voices in country music was a cuban from Miami but that's what makes music amazing. his voice was just so good it haunted you. we won't see another like him