Raul Malo

Malo was born in Miami to Cuban immigrant parents Raul Martinez Malo Sr. and Norma Martinez.^[2] However, for much of his adult life, Malo was based in Nashville, Tennessee, where he had lived since 1993.^[4] Malo was of maternal Spanish descent, as his grandfather had been a Spanish migrant to Cuba some time prior to the family’s move to Florida.^[5] He was personally fond of the music of performers such as Elvis Presley and Hank Williams.^[6]

Malo was the lead vocalist for The Mavericks founded in Miami in 1989. The Mavericks have charted 15 times on the American Billboard Hot Country Songs charts; their highest-peaking single there is "All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down", a collaboration with accordionist Flaco Jiménez which reached number 13 in 1996. Three of their singles made top 10 on the country music charts of the defunct RPM magazine in Canada, and "Dance the Night Away" was a hit single in the United Kingdom in 1998. Their most commercially successful album What a Crying Shame has been certified platinum in the United States and double-platinum in Canada.^[7]

For 34 years, Malo was married to Betty, and had three sons.^[8]

In June 2024, Malo announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer.^[9]

In September 2025, he canceled his remaining tour dates due to his cancer, which Malo said on his Instagram page had by this point reached its leptomeningeal disease (LMD) stage, thus spreading to his spinal cord and brain.^[10][8] During his bout with cancer, Malo also left his Nashville home and stayed in Houston, where he received treatment at MD Anderson.^[8][11] On December 7, 2025, however, Betty Malo confirmed on her Instagram page that she and Raul by now received mail from a UPS business center in Nashville.^[12]

On December 4, 2025, Malo was hospitalized, the day before the first of two nights of tribute shows, which he and his family were also initially scheduled to attend, were set to be held in his honor in Nashville.^[13][11] Despite his continued hospitalization, both tribute shows for Malo would be held as planned at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium on December 5 and 6, 2025.^[14] On December 6, his Mavericks bandmates were able to visit him in the hospital, giving him one final "concert," which his wife posted a clip of on her Instagram page.^[15][16] Malo died of colon cancer on December 8, at the age of 60.^[17][2][18] On January 23, 2026, he was awarded the American Eagle Award from the National Music Council.^[19]