Mavericks frontman Raul Malo dies at 60 after battle with cancer

Raul Malo, who arsenic frontman of the Mavericks brought a Latin rhythmic flair and a sweeping consciousness of romance to state music, died connected Monday. He was 60.

His decease was announced by the set successful an Instagram station that didn’t specify the origin oregon accidental wherever Malo died. Last year, the vocalist told fans that helium had been diagnosed with cancer; successful September, Malo wrote connected Facebook that helium had developed leptomeningeal illness — a information successful which crab metastasizes to the membranes astir the encephalon and spinal cord — and was calling disconnected the group’s upcoming concerts.

This past weekend, bandmates Paul Deakin, Eddie Perez and Jerry Dale McFadden performed with a formed of friends and admirers astatine Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to people the Mavericks’ 35th anniversary. Among the acts who paid tribute were Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Patty Griffin and Marty Stuart.

Their dependable built astir Malo’s muscular baritone, the Mavericks broke retired successful the 1990s with an expansive benignant of state euphony that pulled from big-band pop, ’50s-era stone and the Cuban euphony Malo heard increasing up successful Miami arsenic the lad of Cuban immigrants. As a singer, Malo was often compared to Roy Orbison; successful 2001, helium told The Times astir his emotion for Tony Bennett.

The Mavericks released their self-titled debut medium successful 1990 and were rapidly signed by MCA Nashville, which enactment retired “From Hell to Paradise” successful 1992. (The album’s rubric way was Malo’s statement of his parents’ travel to America.) The band’s adjacent LP, 1994’s “What a Crying Shame,” went platinum and spun disconnected a bid of deed state singles including the rubric track, “O What a Thrill” and “There Goes My Heart.” The adjacent twelvemonth the set recorded a screen of Rodgers & Hart’s “Blue Moon” for the soundtrack of Ron Howard’s Oscar-winning movie “Apollo 13.”

In 1996, the Mavericks won a Grammy Award for “Here Comes the Rain,” a chiming roots-rock fig from their medium “Music for All Occasions,” which featured appearances by Trisha Yearwood and the accordionist Flaco Jiménez. The Mavericks were doubly named vocal radical of the twelvemonth astatine the Country Music Assn. Awards, successful 1995 and 1996.

For 1998’s “Trampoline,” the set leaned into torch-song balladry and classical R&B but struggled to link connected state radio. The medium “threw a batch of radical for a loop,” Malo told The Times. “That’s OK. I liked it.” He followed the medium with a solo debut, 2001’s “Today,” that further explored his Cuban heritage.

Malo was calved successful Miami successful 1965. He co-founded the Mavericks successful 1989 with Robert Reynolds, who had fronted an earlier set successful which Malo played bass.

The radical broke up aft 2003’s “The Mavericks,” past reunited a decennary later. The band’s astir caller workplace album, “Moon & Stars,” came retired past year.

In summation to the Mavericks and his solo work, Malo besides played with Los Super Seven, a sprawling roots-music supergroup whose different members included Jiménez, Freddy Fender and members of Los Lobos.

Among Malo’s survivors are his mother, Norma; his wife, Betty, and their sons, Dino, Victor and Max; and his sister Carol.